Egle Rising
by GunnyBadger
Summary: In my first fan fiction I insert my own character I created into a much darker Remnant than is show in RT's RWBY. Team JNPR goes on a doomed mission to find a teenager living in the Emerald Forest to bring back to Beacon Academy. Please feel free to review this in any way you deem fit. The only way I can grow as a writer is to have feedback from my readers. Thank you and enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

Egle Rising

I

Team JNPR sat in silence as their Bullhead VTOL zoomed above the Emerald Forest, on their way to perform a secret scouting mission deep in the wilderness. Jaune read his orders from Ozpin with a concerned look on his face. The mission was originally meant for Team RWBY but they had yet to return from another mission so it was handed off to him and his team a few days later than Ozpin had hoped for. The documents in his hands described detailed reports from Team CFVY about a tribe deep in the forest that they had made a deal with in exchange for supplies and shelter during a series of violent storms. The deal was fairly simple, find the tribe and take their chief's son back to Vale. The report went on to explain that the young man they were to extract had a very unique semblance that Ozpin was highly interested in. There was something about their mission that didn't feel right to him and it was starting to show. Pyrrha reached over and rested her hand on his shoulder to reassure him.

"We'll be fine Jaune, this is just a simple recon mission to see if we can find the tribe CFVY made contact with." Pyrrha said as she took the orders from Jaune, placing them on the seat next to her. Jaune was always quick to worry but she hadn't seen him this concerned in a while. Even as she tried to reassure him she couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong about their mission as well. Why was Ozpin so concerned with this tribe and their chief's son? She couldn't shake the feeling that they were walking into the unknown here.

"Both of you should just relax already. Coco said the tribe didn't move around much and that Ozpin didn't seem too worried about their request. Besides, it's been awhile since we got a mission like this so just try to sit back and enjoy the flight." Nora said as she stretched in her seat. It always seemed like Nora couldn't be phased by anything. Even Ren was taking a nap beside her while they flew towards their drop off point. Jaune sat back in his seat with a sigh as he thought about how maybe he was just overthinking things. But at the same time the fact that he could sense worry in Pyrrha's voice didn't help his mood. There was nothing him or his team could do now as they were getting closer to their area of operation.

Just as Jaune was about to attempt to fall asleep himself the pilot reported that they were five miles from the drop off point and that everyone needed to get ready. Nora poked Ren awake as she moved to the door of the Bullhead with her Magnhild in its grenade launcher mode to cover their landing into a small clearing. Jaune took a deep breath before exiting the aircraft with the rest of his team. He gave the pilot a thumbs up as it ascended back into the air, he then joined the rest of JNPR at the tree line nearby.

"Alright everyone the tribe should be about two miles to the east of here. Pyrrha, you take the lead with Ren while Nora and I bring up the rear until we get to the village." Jaune said as he walked up to them with a map of the area in his hand. Now that he was on the ground he started to fill more confidence with his mission and team. After looking at the map and determining their location they started their two mile hike to where the tribe's last known location was. _Maybe I was really overthinking things_. Thought Jaune as he took his position behind Ren and Nora behind him.

The team carefully made their way through the forest towards where the village should be. This area of the forest was known to have beowolf packs in it along with other Grimm. Nora hummed cheerfully behind Jaune as they walked along, the only other sound being the occasional bird or small animal running through the forest. Jaune slowly felt more and more at ease as he shook the fears he had felt in the Bullhead from his mind. He could tell that the rest of his team had started to relax a little as well which was comforting.

After about an hour Jaune couldn't help but notice how there was no longer any sound to the forest around them. There were no birds chirping or small animals rustling as they made their way closer to the edge of the village. He also started to notice that there were no village scouts or hunters moving through the forest. He started to get an uneasy feeling when they reached the edge of the village he noticed that they had never even came into contact with any tribal scouts. Pyrrha and Ren stopped dead in their tracks as they came into the village. They turned around to look at Jaune and Nora with looks of dreadful terror on their faces. Jaune started to ask what was wrong when he looked past them into the village at the remains of a fierce battle.


	2. Chapter 2

II

The village was in complete ruins with bodies, those of the young and the old, strewn everywhere. The tribe they had been sent to find was no more. Among the bodies of the villagers were the bodies of beowolves as well. The blood of both the villagers and beowolves was still wet on the ground from what appeared to be a large battle. As the team spread out amongst the village's buildings to look for survivors they each slowly realized that their mission had just became very complicated.

Nora entered a large hut at the center of the village to find what appeared to be the remains of the tribe's chief. As she fought back the vomit quickly coming up her throat she heard a small whimper in the room next to her. She quickly shook off the sickness as she poked her head into the next room to find a small child with a beowolf at her feet, a dagger sticking out of its chest. Nora quickly exited the hut and let out a sharp whistle to alert the rest of her team to her position before she ran back into the room with the small girl. She slowly kneeled next to the child and looked her over to see if she was wounded. The girl was small framed with large golden eyes and snow white hair that came down in front of her face, she couldn't have been older than seven. Every time Nora tried to touch the girl she would flinch and scoot away from her. Nora spun around as she heard the rest of JNPR enter the hut, Jaune quickly took over as he pushed past Nora into the room with the girl.

"Hey young lady, my name is Jaune and I'm from Beacon Academy. My team was sent here by Professor Ozpin to find your chief. Are you injured? Can you talk?" He said as he gently brushed her hair back out of her face. Thankfully the girl wasn't injured as she continued to sit in silence, staring at the body of the beowolf in front of her. "Hey Pyrrha, can you talk to her? Try to get her up and see if she can tell us anything about what happened. We need to find out if the chief's son survived or not." Jaune said as he stood up and walked into the room with the body of the chief. He gently laid a blanket onto the chief's body before giving the rest of the hut a quick look through to see if he could find any clues.

"Hi, I'm Pyrrha and I'm going to take care of you now okay? May I take your hand?" She asked as she knelt down in front of the child, looking into her eyes as she slowly reached for her hand. The little girl finally broke her gaze on the beowolf and nodded while looking back into Pyrrha's eyes. She weakly took Pyrrha's hand and shakenly stood up with her. "See how much better that feels? Now I'm going to have to ask you to be a big girl and not look at the monster okay? I'm also going to ask you to be brave when we leave this hut, I know what you've seen has to be horrible but you have already proven how strong you are. Can you do this for me? Nora come with us." Pyrrha asked as she held the girl's gaze and walked her out of the hut.

As Pyrrha walked out of the hut with the girl she spun to her left as the sound of something charging her broke the silence. Before she could fully react a large pole weapon swung down low at her ankle, catching her off guard she easily got swept off her feet and slammed down against the ground. As she rolled onto her back she reached for spear Miló to defend herself. Before she could bring it up it was knocked from her hand and her attacker dashed down at her, taking her by the throat and leaning close he spoke.

"Who the hell are you people? What happened here? Where is my father?" The attacker spoke calmly despite his strong grip on Pyrrha's throat. When he noticed the small girl standing next to him and Pyrrha he quickly let go of her neck and scooped her up in his arms. "Nina! Oh thank the goddess you're okay! What happened to the tribe?" The man said as he held the girl close. Nora rushed to Pyrrha's side, helping her up before they both readied their weapons and turned their attention to the teen in front of them. He looked to be about seventeen, had shoulder length white hair with eyes so golden they almost seemed to glow. He was a handsome young man who was tall and athletic, standing at six foot three he stood at about the same height of his pole weapon which was a halberd. He looked down at Nora and Pyrrha with shock in his eyes as he quickly lowered his large weapon with one arm and pointed it at them with the look in his eyes changing quickly from shock to rage.

"Roland stop! The pretty ladies helped me. Please brother, don't hurt them." Nina spoke for the first time in a shy, squeaky voice. She struggled to reach for the halberd in her brother's other hand while pleading with him to calm down. "They just got here Roland! A large pack of beowolves ambushed the tribe while you were hunting. There were hundreds of them, more than I've ever seen! Father said they were coming to make sure you met them." She continued as she looked into her brother's face, finally getting him to calm down.

"Beowolves? A pack of beowolves did all of this?" He said with disbelief as he let his sister slide out of his arms onto the ground between him and Nora and Pyrrha. "Father said I had to meet these people? Then you two must be from Beacon. I'm horribly sorry for how I attacked you ma'am, I saw the bodies and you leaving my family's hut and I just snapped." He apologized as he knelt down on one knee at their feet. Nora and Pyrrha looked at each other, both as equally confused as the other, before they lowered their weapons. As they did so Ren and Jaune came rushing out of the hut, weapons drawn and ready to fight. Roland, unprepared for more strangers exiting his home, jumped up and brought his weapon to ready in case these new strangers meant him harm. Pyrrha quickly leapt in front of him while Nora grabbed his shoulder to try and calm him down.

"Whoa there big guy. Your name is Roland right? That's Ren, Jaune, Pyrrha, and I'm Nora. We make up Team JNPR from Beacon Academy. Professor Ozpin sent us here to find you, we just got here and were looking for survivors. I'm sorry to say this but it looks like your sister and you are the only ones that made it. We were told that our friends Coco, Fox, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi made a deal with your father in exchange for your people's kindness during a series of storms recently. We're here to keep good on that promise. We're here to bring you back to Beacon, we can bring your sister with us. You both will be safe there, I promise." Nora said reassuringly as he lowered his halberd and finally started to calm down fully.

"Fine, but we need to get out of here now. If the pack that did this was as large as Nina says then they must still be in the area. None of us are safe until we get far away from here." He said as he pushed his way past the others and made his way towards his family's home. "Also, before we leave we need to give my people the respect they deserve. I don't know if anyone escaped but those that didn't can't be left to rot in the sun." He then entered the hut and after a few moments came out with a bundle of torches and threw them at the feet of the others. "My people burn their dead on funeral pyres but we don't have time to do that. So instead we are burning everything. Get the bodies that are in better shape than the rest as close to the buildings as you can. I couldn't care less what happens to those damned beowolves so let them rot in the mud."


	3. Chapter 3

III

After a few minutes the six of them had successfully moved the bodies as close to the buildings as they could and lit the village ablaze. As they made their way out of the village Roland and Nina stopped and fell to their knees and prayed silently for a few moments before standing and continuing with Team JNPR back towards the original drop off point. Ren couldn't help but feel sorry for the two lone survivors or this village they were leaving behind, but he also couldn't help but remember what Roland said about the pack being nearby still. This concerned him greatly so he slowed his pace to walk beside Roland.

"I wanted to apologize for what happened to your people Roland. I understand words won't bring them back, but just know that you and your sister will both be welcome at Beacon. But I would like to know how sure you are that that pack of beowolves is still in this area. If a pack the size your sister spoke of attacked your village we need to know in case of an ambush ourselves." Ren said silently while walking next to this large new comer. Roland just kept silent as they walked along, lost in his own thoughts about what had happened to the people that he had just said goodbye to only a few hours before. It was clear to Ren that this large young man they had been sent to find was a highly skilled fighter if he was able to get the drop on Pyrrha as quickly as he did. But what was this semblance that they were told about that meant so much to Ozpin? Ren pushed the thought from his mind as he looked down at Nina. She had faced an impossible situation and came out alive. However she would most likely be unable to sleep well for a good while as no child should have to see the horrors she had saw.

As they reached the edge of the clearing where they had been dropped off Jaune activated the distress signal on the beacon the pilot had given him, alerting the Bullhead aircraft that they were in trouble and to hurry. They each started to relax a little and Jaune silently sat against a tree with Pyrrha, looking over the case files again.

"Pyrrha, did I screw up? I mean do you think we could have saved them if we had gotten there sooner? What if we had left yesterday instead of earlier today? I mean what if Ruby and the rest of her team had gotten back sooner and they went ahead and came here? I can't help but to beat myself up over all of this. Why did this have to happen to them?" Jaune said as he glanced over to Roland and Nina who were sitting in silence together.

"Jaune you can't think like that. You are always so hard on yourself when there was nothing we could have done to stop this from happening. We did our best and got them out of there at least. It's horrible what happened to those people but that's part of living outside of the kingdoms. It's dangerous out here but it's a risk that people take by living here." Pyrrha said as she took Jaune's hand in hers and smiled. She knew Jaune wouldn't let these events go easily but she also knew that what had happened in that village would have be hard for anyone to accept at first glance. She started to speak again when in the distance a soul crushing sound arose. Pyrrha and the others scrambled for their weapons and bolted into the clearing as the sound of beowolves howling grew louder little by little.


	4. Chapter 4

IV

"Pyrrha I need you to take up position here and tell me what you see, Nora you go there and do the same. You two have the long range weapons so if things get bad you're our first lines of defense. Ren, Roland, and I will take up positions around Nina. If they start to get too close I want you two to fall back towards us. Roland, I know you want to protect Nina and get some revenge but you are our mission so you cannot leave me and Ren's side, you understand?" Jaune said quickly as formed a circle near the center of the clearing. Roland nodded with a grunt as he pushed Nina behind him and slammed the barbed lower tip of his halberd into the ground next to him. He then knelt down with his hand still on it and started to pray out loud.

"Goddess, before I am tested with the coming storm I must ask you to protect these good people that came to my sister's aid when she needed them. As your faithful servant I ask you to spare my sister for she is not a warrior and she is too young to have to face your wrath. She has spilt blood today but in defense of her home, as any good person would do. Everything is in your will so I go into the storm of battle with my soul ready to meet you. Guide our blades to bring justice onto these wretches and if this is to be our last storm then may we enter your halls with valor in our hearts and the blood of our enemies still fresh upon our hands." Roland then took a handful of dirt rubbed the blade of his halberd with it, allowing it to cut his thumb's tip. He then looked up at his sister and extended the blade towards her allowing her to kiss his weapon. He stood afterwards and looked at the others and smiled. "I apologize, it is tradition in our tribe to give homage to the goddess before battle. It's also our tradition to allow a woman of the tribe to bless our blade before we spill blood. I thank you for allowing me to do this."

"Okay, well that just happened. Now can we get into position? I think Magnhild is ready to have some fun." Nora said with excitement as she changed her hammer into its grenade launcher mode. Jaune nodded and the rest of the team ran to get into position. However Roland stopped everyone from getting into positon when he quickly spoke up with a request.

"Everyone please allow me to see your weapons. I need to do something to them that may help us a lot." He said, offering his hands to them as he waited for them to comply with his request. Nora, confused by what Roland was asking, looked over to Jaune who nodded after a few moments. They each, one by one, handed him their weapons and his eyes started to glow a deep blue while he muttered something under his breath. Afterwards his eyes went back to gold and he handed them their respectful weapons back. They each hesitated a second, wondering what he had done to their weapons, but then quickly got into their planned positions. As they did this the howls from the beowolves grew even louder as they approached from all sides, their eyes glowing red within the darkness of the trees.

Nina sat on the ground and closed her eyes while Roland, Ren, and Jaune took up a triangular defensive position around her. She seemed to enter a trance as she started to rock back and forth and began to whisper something while the first beowolves bolted from the trees towards Nora. Nora let out a cheerful laugh as she fired off her first grenade into the middle of five beowolves, causing a much larger explosion than she was used to. She stood in shock, her mouth agape and glanced over at Roland who just simply smiled at her. Whatever it was he did to Magnhild, the explosive force of its grenades had become much more effective. This greatly pleased Nora as she had never seen her beloved weapon cause such destruction. She smiled back and then spun around to fire more rounds at her approaching enemy, laughing the entire time she did so.

On the opposite side of the clearing Pyrrha fired a few rounds off at the beowolf running towards her, each one of them falling after one shot. It seemed her Miló in its rifle form had also become much more powerful and was causing large wounds in the approaching beowolves in front of her. She couldn't help but smile slightly also as it seemed whatever Roland did to their weapons had given them a much needed edge in the fight. However her smile quickly faded as she realized that the beowolves were starting to come at her in much greater numbers. She stole a glance at Nora who had seemed was also starting to notice the quick increase in enemies on her side. She then slowly started to backpedal as she knew she needed to start giving herself more space between her and her enemy. Whatever edge Roland had given them at first, it was starting to quickly fade as more and more beowolves came running into the clearing. This was without a doubt the massive pack that attacked the village earlier and it seemed that before long they too would fall victim to it.

Jaune stood at the ready and watched as Pyrrha and Nora bravely stood their ground against more and more enemies. He couldn't believe the size of this pack as they both were forced to start giving up ground. Before long the beowolves were getting too close to use their weapons' firepower and they both switched to their close quarter weapon modes. He took a moment to try scan the little bit of horizon he could see through the tops of the trees to see if he could spot their ride home but it was no good as no doubtingly the pilot had already started to get closer to the city when their beacon was activated. _Damn, I should activated the beacon as soon as we exited the village._ Jaune thought to himself as the situation around him started to get more desperate by the second. Both Nora and Pyrrha were about five meters away from the rest of the group and were starting to get overran. He caught Ren's gaze and it was clear that it was time for them both to help out their teammates. Jaune and Ren nodded at each other in agreement and they both broke formation and engaged in battle with the beowolves, leaving Roland to stand with his sister.

Roland looked on as the four strangers who saved his life engaged in a hopeless battle. With every beowolf they cut down, at least ten more ran into the clearing. They were severely outnumbered by their fierce foe and he was beginning to get antsy as he waited for his chance to prove his worth to his sister's rescuers. Roland then looked down as his sister, still in her trance on the ground, she had killed a beowolf on her own while he was not there to protect her. In a way he couldn't help but feel a small bit of pride for his little sister as she had never received any sort of weapons training. It was then that she broke from her trance and looked up at her brother with a smile before pointing above the tree line. As he turned to follow where she was pointing he felt hope return to their otherwise hopeless fight. He grinned and yelled out in encouragement for his new comrades. "Look my new brothers and sisters! The goddess smiles upon you and your bravery! An aircraft is approaching! We need to hold out only a little longer so one of them can land." Roland then took up his halberd and rushed to aid Nora and Ren who seemed to be facing more beowolves than Pyrrha and Jaune. He quickly cut down several beowolves with speed that almost seemed unnatural for someone wielding a weapon like his. Nora took this almost as a challenge as she too had a fairly large weapon and was not using it nearly as fast as he.

"Don't show off new guy! I'm the queen with the big ass weapon in this team!" She yelled with excitement as she brought her hammer down onto the skull of a beowolf, causing its head to explode as if it was a melon. She grinned at him and he grinned back as he accepted her banter. However this brief moment of bravado in Nora ended quickly as she pointed behind Roland to a very large beowolf that went unnoticed just long enough to close the distance between it and him. He spun around and raised his weapon but before he could strike his enemy the beowolf swept its large claws at his face, knocking him off balance as the sound of its claws ripped into his left cheek. Then while he was off balance it closed its jaws around his right arm as Roland screamed out in pain. The beast then shook him back and forth, shattering his arm and dislocating his shoulder from its socket before it flung him through the air. Roland landed hard on top of a large boulder a few feet away, the sound of his ribs shattering like glass.


	5. Chapter 5

V

"Roland! Someone please help my brother!" Screamed Nina as she looked on in horror at the sight of her brother bounce off of the bolder he landed on like he was a rag doll. She started to run to him when Jaune stopped her and ordered his team to start to form a defensive parameter around him and Nina as he waved for the Bullhead.

"Ren, help Roland. We can't leave him behind!" Jaune urged Ren who nodded before dashing towards Roland and the large beowolf who had started to make its way towards its intended victim. "Everyone get ready, that Bullhead looks like it is armed so expect it to help us a little." Jaune said the rest of his team formed up around him and Nina. He then squeezed Nina's hand in assurance to let her know that her brother would be okay.

Roland gasped for air as he slowly sat up against the boulder he landed on. The pain he was in was insane, more than he had ever experienced in his life before then. With blood dripping off of his chin he looked down at his mangled right arm and tenderly reset his shoulder socket before letting out a long painful yell. He cursed as the large beowolf stood over him, ready to deal the killing blow. _I'm sorry Nina. It looks like bravado got your brother killed. I pray that the rest of these strangers can bring you to safety_. He thought to himself as he looked up at the beast that had got the best of him. Then as it lunged for a final bite, Ren appeared in front of him and shielded him from the blow. Roland looked on in disbelief as blood sprayed from Ren's shoulder, the beast biting down in anger as it realized someone was foolish enough to get between it and its kill. Ren, with fight still in him then slammed one of the blades of his StormFlowers into the beast's neck and started shooting it in the chest with the other one until it let go of him and fell over dead. Afterwards Ren turned to Roland and offered his hand to help Roland up. As Roland rose he reached for Ren's wound but before he could try to put pressure on it the sound of large caliber gunfire drowned out everything around them. The Bullhead had arrived above them with a vengeance and Ren collapsed against Roland.

As the Bullhead fired at any beowolves, who were now retreating back into the forest, Roland carried Ren to the others. While trying to ignore his own injuries Roland looked in awe as the Bullhead made quick work of the beowolves that were too stubborn to run. He forced himself to not collapse from his own injuries as he slowly made his way to the others. Nora and Pyrrha first noticed them and came running to them with looks of fear on both of their faces. Roland allowed Nora and Pyrrha to help him get Ren to the aircraft that had now landed. As they got there he finally collapsed, letting the pain sweep over him. Nina rushed to help Jaune pull him onto the aircraft before it finally took off. Roland then slipped out of consciousness as he noticed a shadowy figure step out of the cockpit of the Bullhead.

"Ren! Oh no please Ren! Ren stay with me. Come on Ren you can do this, it's just a flesh wound." Nora pleaded as she desperately tried to get the bleeding to stop from Ren's shoulder. Nina and Pyrrha both tried to tend to the injuries that Roland had received. And Jaune turned to see that the figure that had stepped out of the cockpit was Professor Ozpin himself.

"Professor? What are you doing here?" Jaune asked as he struggled to fight back the shock of what was happening in the aircraft.

"After you all left I became uneasy and decided to come see to it myself that you and your team would make it back in one piece. I regrettably seem to have failed at this moment." Ozpin said solemnly as he steadied Jaune so he wouldn't collapse. "I take it things didn't go so well with the tribe Jaune? Are they okay?" He then asked with concern in his voice. Jaune just simply shook his head before turning away and fell to his knees to help Nora try to tend to Ren's wound. "I see. We shall have to have a memorial for them sometime. I'm sorry children, this was no mission for students." Ozpin then said as he fell into one of the seats and silently took in the chaos in the aircraft.

"Professor Ozpin, what should I tell Beacon? Do I need to tell them to have medical staff on hand for the two boys?" The pilot asked as he glanced back at the scene behind him. Ozpin stood and entered the cockpit, pushing a button to close the side doors of the aircraft before sitting back down in the copilot seat.

"Yes, tell them that we have two young men who are going to need serious medical treatment if they hope to survive to see tomorrow." As he said this Nora let out a scream of agony from behind Ozpin and the pilot. "Correction. Tell them to prepare surgery for one and a body bag for the other. Also tell them to shut down the campus and send all students to the dorms. They don't need to see what we are bringing back." Ozpin said sadly as tears started to cloud his vison.

"Ren! Please don't die! I can't have you die Ren. Please don't do this to me. I love you so much I can't have you die like this!" Nora sobbed as she held Ren's dying body in her arms, blood covering the front of her clothes. Ren weakly reached up to her face with a shaky hand.

"It's okay Nora. I've always known you loved me. And honestly I've always loved you too. I just wish I had made time to be together with you." He said slowly and smiled, still holding her cheek in his hand.

"You mean…together as in…together?" Nora said as she cried, tears dripping onto Ren's face. Her voice shaking as she forced herself to smile.

"Yeah. I mean together, together." Ren said as he cringed from the pain in his shoulder. "Hey Nora, what type of sound does a sloth make?" He asked as his fought to stay awake.

Nora laughed as she remembered back to their initiation day and when Team JNPR was first made. She gave out a weak "sloth sound" like she did that day before her tears started to flow even heavier.

"Please don't cry Nora. This isn't goodbye, we will see each other again one day. Please live life knowing we had the best days together and that I love you." Ren said as he wiped away her tears the best he could and then sat up slightly to kiss her. Nora leaned down and kissed Ren's lips and held him close as she felt his life start to fade from him.

As Nora stopped kissing Ren she looked down into his eyes and saw the life leave them. She sobbed as she caressed his face with her hands. "No. Please don't do this. Please come back Ren. I need you to stay with me. You're my best friend, you're everything to me." She said with tears dropping onto his face. She then let out a long, heartbroken scream in frustration and anguish. Lie Ren lay dead in her arms.


	6. Chapter 6

VI

Blake and Sun moved in silence, keeping as low against the roof of the building as they could. It had been a little under an hour after Professor Goodwitch had ordered all students to return to their dorms until further notice. The order wasn't taken well by most of the students but anytime someone tried to sneak out they were quickly found out and escorted back to their rooms. All teams were accounted for except Team JNPR who had yet to return from their mission. Professor Ozpin had also been missing for some time as he was last seen quickly boarding an armed Bullhead VTOL. Something about all of this didn't feel right to Blake so she had waited in the darkness with Sun until she heard the sound of aircraft engines approaching to start climbing for a better vantage point. As they peaked down at the sight of the same Bullhead that Ozpin had boarded they noticed several of the other teachers rush to it with medical staff. Two of the nurses were pushing a gurney to the side of the aircraft, but it was the object that Professor Goodwitch herself was carrying that shocked both Blake and Sun. She was carrying dark green body bag.

"Sun, do you think this has to do with why they shut the campus down? Why does Goodwitch have a body bag?" Blake said as she glanced over at Sun, whose expression quickly changed from curiosity to horror as he pointed to the aircraft. Blake turned back to look at the Bullhead and saw what had made Sun's expression change so rapidly. The doors had opened to reveal five figures she recognized and two she didn't. The five figures were that of Professor Ozpin with a battered looking Team JNPR. Ozpin slowly stepped out of the aircraft and motioned for the medical staff to one of the two she couldn't recognize, one of them a small child and the other a boy about her age. The medical staff quickly pulled the limp body of the teenager out of the aircraft and onto the gurney before they rushed off towards the infirmary with the smaller child in tow. Ozpin then helped Goodwitch spread out the body bag before they both pulled a lifeless Ren from the aircraft and gently laid him in the bag.

"Blake this is bad. What the fuck happened out there? And who were those two kids?" Sun whispered as they watched the scene below them unfold.

"I don't know Sun. But do you see Nora? She is covered in blood. I can't imagine how JNPR is feeling right now." Blake whispered back as she watched a sobbing Nora sit next to the bag with Ren's body in it. "We should get back to the others. They'll want to know about this." She said as she started to climb down. Sun nodded in agreement as he joined her. Whatever had happened to Team JNPR was bad, and all of Beacon was going to be in a buzz in a few hours.

Ozpin turned to Goodwitch after helping her zip the body bag close and whispered in a cracking voice. "Glynda, please stay with them while I visit our new students. Roland is going to need a miracle to not join Mr. Lie." Goodwitch nodded as she stood and walked over to the remaining members of JNPR. Ozpin stood and made his way to the infirmary where, hopefully, there wouldn't be another child in a body bag. When he got there he was approached by a nurse who had a look of hope on her face.

"Professor Ozpin, his injuries look grimmer than they are. He has three broken ribs, and deep liaisons on his face. His most serious injury is his right arm however. The doctor doesn't think we can save it." She said rapidly as she peeled off a bloody pair of gloves. "Sir, this kid shouldn't be alive. The amount of damage he has taken would have killed anyone else." She said with concern before walking into the room with Ozpin.

"I am well aware of that. That is why I want to make sure we don't lose another student tonight. I don't think I could take the sight of another child in a body bag. Please alert me when he wakes up. If he wakes up." Professor Ozpin said as he watched the doctors carefully amputate Roland's right arm right above his elbow. He then turned and left the room to return to his quarters. Ozpin had had enough of this day. He could only trust in his medical staff to keep Roland alive now.


	7. Chapter 7

VII

Roland drifted along through a black, silent world. He couldn't remember when he had arrived and had no sense of how long he was there. He was alone in an impossibly empty universe. As he drifted along he couldn't help but think about a past that was almost dream like to him now. The last thing he could remember was the sound of a girl screaming and the sensation of sharp pain in his face, side, and arm. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't remember what had happened to him that led him to this strange, empty world. As he closed his eyes and an attempt to sleep he felt a sharp, sudden pain above his right elbow. He snapped his eyes open and looked down to see that his right arm was starting to decay below the elbow. He felt a sudden rush of fear as he started to feel more intense pain flood his senses. He tightly closed his eyes in an attempt to block out the pain when he heard an unfamiliar voice enter his otherwise silent world. At first he couldn't understand what was being said but after what felt like a lifetime he could hear the sound of a man's voice saying his name.

As the voice grew louder, the pain in Roland's body became more intense. Roland fought to focus on the sound of this man's voice, while also attempting to block out the pain in his arm, face, and side. He then started to hear other sounds around him. The sounds of movement, voices, and machinery. He slowly opened his eyes to have light flood his vison, making the world around him turn blurry.

"Roland? Can you hear me? If you can hear me I need you to wake up now. We have much to talk about and little time do so. Ah, there we go. Welcome back to the world of the living young man. You've given us quite a scare for the past two days." Professor Ozpin said as he pulled up a chair next to the Roland's bed and sat in it. "My name is Professor Ozpin and you are at Beacon Academy. We have a lot to discuss but I am sure you have several questions first. Now you are going to have to take things slow for a while, but I promise you what you are experiencing is nowhere near as bad as it looks." He said this as Roland took in the room around them. It was then that Roland did what Ozpin was afraid he would do. He looked at his right arm.

"What…what happened to my arm? Where is my arm?" Roland started to get frantic as he stared down at what used to be his arm. As he tried to move his left arm to feel the stub that was now his right arm, he realized that his left arm was chained to the railing of his bed. He started to panic as the shock of what had happened to him set in. He turned to Ozpin as he started to hyperventilate and through gasping breath noticed how the professor was injecting him with a needle.

"This is a sedative Roland, it's to help you calm down. The last thing we need is for you to go into shock right after waking up. You're going to go back to sleep for now and when you wake up we can talk. Try to relax and get some rest young man. We need you to get better if you are to be successful at your new home." Ozpin said as he injected the sedative into Roland's arm. As Roland fell asleep Ozpin stood up, dusted off his suit, and walked out of the room. When in the hall he spoke briefly to Roland's doctor before continuing down the hall towards the exit. As the professor exited the building he ran into Nora, who looked like she hadn't slept since she got back. She approached Ozpin in a frenzy.

"Professor Ozpin, is he awake? Is Roland finally awake?" She said in an angry, panicked voice. She tried pushing past Ozpin but he gently grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Miss Valkyrie, please rethink anything you plan on doing to Mr. Egle. He fought alongside you and your team. He almost lost his own life in doing so. Do not blame him for Ren's death. From what Jaune tells me, Ren sacrificed himself so that Roland could have a chance to live. Please remember what Ren said to you before he passed. Now please go get some rest." Ozpin then let go of her arm and continued to walk away from the building, leaving her standing in front of the entrance with tears starting to form in her eyes.

As Nora watched Professor Ozpin walk away she couldn't help but feel a sense of shame in herself. It had been two days since the battle that took her best friend's life. She hadn't slept, ate, or even talked to the rest of her team since then. Pyrrha would try to talk to her every chance she got but it was never any good. Nora just couldn't bring herself to do anything but lay on Ren's bed or walk to the infirmary, hoping to see the person that caused Ren to die. As she stood in front of the building she continued to watch the professor everyone at the school looked up to sadly walk away from her. _Perhaps he is right. I'm not the only one suffering right now._ Nora thought to herself as she turned to enter the building. However as she opened the door she saw the one person she wasn't expecting. There in front of her was the small girl who not two days ago had almost lost everything.

"What are you doing Nora?" Nina asked in a dull voice.

"I was…I was on my way to see if your bother was awake." Replied Nora, still shocked to find Nina on the other side of the door. _Was she standing there the entire time Ozpin talked to me?_ Nora asked herself as she looked down at the strange child in front of her.

"Why would you want to see my brother?" Nina asked, tilting her head to one side.

"I need to talk to him Nina." Nora responded, growing irritated.

"Oh. Well you can't see him. He is still sleeping and I know why you want to talk to him. You should stay away from Roland, you will only hurt him." Nina said as she turned around and walked back into the building. "You know, Professor Ozpin was right. You need to get some rest." She said as the door behind her closed, leaving Nora alone at the entrance.

 _Fine. I will get some rest you little bitch._ Nora thought to herself as she stamped away back to her dorm. As she entered her room she saw Jaune and Pyrrha sitting at their desks, both studying as if nothing had happened. _How the hell can they study right now? How can they act like Ren didn't just die two days ago?_ Nora continued to think to herself as she laid on Ren's old bed. She could feel Pyrrha's eyes on her and as she waited for her to attempt to strike up conversation again she tightly squeezed her eyes shut. And then, as if almost on cue, Pyrrha cleared her throat.

"So everyone…how about we get some lunch? Nora? Are you hungry? Jaune and I haven't ate yet so we would be happy to go with you." Pyrrha softly said as she walked over to Nora, placing her hand on her back. _I don't know why I keep asking her these things. It's not like she is actually going to respond to me._ Pyrrha thought sadly to herself. Almost as if Nora was listening to her thoughts she rolled over and looked at her with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry Pyrrha. I've been so selfish lately and I just miss him so much!" She said through sobs. Nora quickly sat up, threw her arms around Pyrrha's neck, and squeezed her as tightly as she could. "Please forgive me! I promise I'll get food with you later, just please let me take a short nap first."

Pyrrha couldn't help but smile as her friend embraced her. She had been waiting for this very moment to happen, the moment when Nora would finally break the silence and show her that she was okay. "Yes Nora. You need to get your rest. Jaune and I will be here waiting for you to wake up. But there is just one thing we need to tell you first. Jaune?" Pyrrha glanced at Jaune while Nora let go of her and wiped away the tears on her face.

"Oh…yeah. Well…you see. Well a lot of the other students were suggesting we have a memorial service for Ren. We figured it would be good for all of us, especially you, to do that. Professor Goodwitch and Ozpin seem to agree as well. It's supposed to be two days from now. Would you…like to say a few words at it?" Jaune said awkwardly from across the room. "We wanted to ask you if you wanted to take part in it because we knew how much you cared about him. Think it over, okay?" Jaune continued as he leaned back in his seat.

"Yeah. I'll think about it Jaune. Now please you two, let me sleep." Nora said with a yawn as she rolled back over and silently fell asleep on Ren's bed.

A few hours later across the campus in the infirmary, Roland was finally waking up from his sedative induced sleep. This time instead of Ozpin sitting next to him he opened his eyes to see none other than Nina. She was curled up in the chair next to him, silently sleeping with a blanket on her. As Roland looked at her he couldn't help but smile. Somehow she had made it out of the hell they faced just two days prior without any wounds. His relief was also met with concern as he remembered the sight of his village. _Everyone is dead except for us sister. Why were we so lucky?_ He thought as he silently looked at his sister. After a few minutes he decided it was time to talk to someone about what had happened so he pushed the button at his side to call for a nurse. But instead of a nurse he was met by Professor Ozpin again.

"Ah, I see you are awake again. Good, good. And your sister is here too. It's very fortunate she is actually. You see I need to talk to you both. First thing on my agenda is fairly straight forward and simple. We should do something about that arm." Professor Ozpin said as he walked in and closed the door. "Secondly we need to talk about your stay here Roland Egle. And we should most likely talk about the living arrangements for your sister as well." He said as he sat at the foot of the bed and smiled.


	8. Chapter 8

VIII

"Nora? You should wake up now. Professor Ozpin is here and he says he has a pretty important announcement for our team." Pyrrha said as she shook Nora awake. It had been nearly eight hours since Nora had fallen asleep on Ren's old bed. As Nora rubbed her eyes and yawned she noticed the slightly concerned look on Pyrrha's face.

"What's wrong Pyrrha? He…he isn't disbanding our team is he? I mean with three people we are still a great team. Oh no, don't tell me we are being split up to join other teams." Nora began to become frantic as she sat up. The last thing she could handle was being told that she would be losing her remaining two teammates.

"Actually no Miss Valkyrie, I'm not doing anything of the sort." Said a smiley Professor Ozpin as he calmly strolled into Team JNPR's room. "I'm here to tell you that Team JNPR will be receiving a new teammate as of now. I know it's late at night and the three of you have class in the morning, however this couldn't wait until tomorrow. In fact I think you would be pleased to know that the team won't even need to change its name. He continued as he leaned against the doorframe, looking over his glasses at the three students standing in front of him.

"We won't have to change our name? New teammate? But…who is our new teammate Professor Ozpin? We haven't had any transfer students lately." Jaune said as he rose from his chair. _Crap, the last thing we need is another teammate. Nora will go berserk over this I'm sure._ He thought to himself as he glanced worriedly at Nora who was still sitting on Ren's bed.

Ozpin sighed and stood up straight, adjusted his glasses, and instantly adopted a more serious tone. "Although your team has already met him, let me reintroduce to you Roland Egle. One of only two known members of the Dust Eaters still alive." Ozpin said as he stepped further into the room, allowing Roland to walk in behind him. Roland was already dressed in a Beacon uniform and he stood rigid, as if he had never worn a suit or any form of uniform before. He placed his bags down at his feet and sharply brought a black colored, metal right hand up to his chest as if to salute Jaune. As Ozpin continued he couldn't help but feel the tension in the room start to boil over as he spoke. "I expect you three to show him the respect and comradery that you shared with Mr. Lei before his untimely passing. Nora, he will be sleeping in Ren's old be…" Before Ozpin could finish his sentence Nora dashed from Ren's bed to Roland and punched him in the chin so hard that it threw him to the ground at Jaune and the professor's feet.

"How dare you…" Nora said with clinched fists and gritted teeth as she looked down at Roland. "You dare show your fucking face in this room? You are the reason Ren is dead! If you hadn't gotten cocky and paid attention you wouldn't have been caused the situation that led to Ren sacrificing himself for you!" Nora exploded as she stood over Roland, pulling her arm back to strike him again. Instead of striking him however she punched the wall and stormed out of the room. As Jaune helped Roland up Ozpin continued where he left off.

"As I was saying before Miss Valkyrie's interruption, I expect you all to work with him. Show him the ropes as quickly as you can but also be mindful of his right arm. Although he may seem to be in tip top shape he will of course have to relearn how to be an effective fighter with his new arm. Miss Nikos, I expect you and Miss Valkyrie to help him relearn how to use his weapon. This is nonnegotiable children, Mr. Egle is a valued member of this academy now. Hopefully he can earn his position here after so many, including himself, sacrificed for him to come here." With that Ozpin patted Roland on the shoulder and exited the room, whistling as he walked down the hallway.

"I'm so sorry about Nora, I've never seen her that angry before." Jaune said as he brushed Roland's uniform off. As he did so he realized there was quite a few things different about him. When Team JNPR had met him two days prior he had had long white hair. Now it was cut down short, very short actually. His face had three scars on his left cheek where the beowolf had struck him. This greatly confused Jaune as it had only been two days since their battle and the rest of them still had their cuts and bruises. _How did he heal so fast? And why isn't he acting like he is in pain? I could have sworn he had broken bones._ Jaune thought to himself as he then looked at the most jarring change in the new member of his team. His black painted, armor plated, mechanical hand that was sticking out of his uniform sleeve. Jaune realized he was staring at it and apologized as he was sure it must be embarrassing for Roland.

"There is no need to apologize Jaune. Nora's actions are her own and I'm sure she will come around sooner or later. First thing is first though, we need to get our new teammate settled in." Pyrrha said as she picked up Roland's bags. As Jaune and Pyrrha helped Roland unpack they noticed that all of his materials were brand new, many still having a price tag on them. _I guess when you are forced to leave your home with no time to pack you can't be expected to have anything of your own really._ Pyrrha thought to herself as they finished up. She sat on her own bed before finally asking the question that had been bothering her since Roland first walked in the room. "So, I'm sure there is much for us to discuss as a team but I think the first thing is obvious. We need to talk about Ren, the battle, Nora, and your injuries." She said with a stern look on her face. She knew that if there was any chance of Roland and the rest of the team getting along, it would have to start with the tough questions first.


	9. Chapter 9

IX

Roland sat on a chair across the room from the rest of Team JNPR and sighed. Nora had returned after about an hour and had been convinced by Jaune and Pyrrha to join in the discussion that was about to unfold. Roland glanced at the woman who had struck him and almost smiled. _I've never met a woman with as much spunk as she._ He thought to himself as he remembered Nora's skills with her hammer and the strength behind the punch that was still making his jaw tingle. He slid off his uniform jacket and placed it neatly on the back of his chair. He could feel everyone's eyes on his arm and he couldn't help but feel a slight case of phantom pain jolt through it as he remembered the beowolf's jaws around it. His right arm had been replaced with a black, armor plated, metal arm with several small tubes running from it to his bicep. The tubes were connected into the flesh of his upper arm and had a strange blue system of markings running from the connection sites upward under the sleeve of his shirt.

"Why don't we start with how you healed so fast? Tell us about what happened in the infirmary. Also what is a Dust Eater? Is it the name of your tribe?" Jaune said as he stared at Roland's new arm.

"Well as Professor Ozpin said when I first came in the room, I am one of two remaining members of the Dust Eaters. We are…we were a tribe of highly skilled warriors that have a rare semblance. This semblance is known as transmutation and means we are able to manipulate dust with our minds for different outcomes. To do this we would infuse it into our bodies, most could only eat dust, and a few could absorb it into their bloodstreams. Some of those in my tribe were able to use it to disappear, some could move at inhuman speeds or strengthen themselves with it, and some could even fly after eating it. A very small number of us, mainly those belonging to The Old Families' bloodlines, could use dust to do almost anything we wanted and were not bound to just one ability like others. The Old Families were the old bloodlines that made up the elite in our tribe, my father's family was the most powerful. Sometimes there would be those like my sister Nina. She has the ability to foresee the future by tapping into the dust that flows through her veins. However, because she is still young she more times than not can only see small glimpses instead of full pictures. I understand it is quite frustrating for her sometimes." Roland paused as an attempt to let the others take in his words and to see if there were any questions.

Almost on cue Pyrrha cleared her throat before leaning forward in her seat. "And what is your ability Roland? What can dust do for you?" She asked with a spark on interest in her eyes.

"I had the ability to use dust to strengthen bodies and weapons. Because of my body having dust infused into my very blood I am able to heal at speeds nobody else can. This is why my ribs and face have healed almost perfectly. My arm was lost however because of the extreme amounts of damage and blood lost from the wound in it. Also, because I was unconscious I was unable to save Ren's life. Had I not been so weak from my own injuries I could have merged some of my blood with his to allow him to heal. I apologize for that." Roland responded with a deep sense of sadness in his voice. He looked at Nora and bowed his head for a moment.

Nora felt her blood start to boil as the thought of Ren being rescued by this person in front of her. _Who the hell does he think he is? Ren wouldn't have had the injuries he had if it wasn't for him! And now he is saying if he hadn't been so weak he could have saved him? What a joke._ She thought to herself before rolling her eyes and looking away in disgust.

"So that answers quite a few of the questions we had for you. However, it doesn't explain why your new arm looks like it does." Jaune replied while gesturing towards Roland's metal arm.

"Oh yes. I almost forgot about that. Well…you see because I lost my right arm I was faced with a serious issue. My weapon strengthening abilities granted to me by my semblance were used by flowing the energy out of my right hand. And so after I woke up and had a chance to get a grasp on the situation at hand, Professor Ozpin explained that because he had a decent grasp on my abilities that the academy would allow me to have a new arm. He went on to explain how this machine was infused with a rare blend of different dust types to create an impossibly strong metal. He also said that with the tubes connecting the machine to my blood and nerves that I could use it to transmute the machine itself into nearly any weapon or tool I deemed fit. Apparently all I need is the right type of dust to come in contact with it and I can then bend the false part of my arm into a very effective weapon. Of course the catch was to stay here and learn to become a huntsman. He claimed that a semblance like mine was better suited to be used as a huntsman keeping humanity safe. I told him I would do it if my sister could stay here with me." Roland explained before taking a deep breath.

"Speaking of your sister, where is Nina?" Pyrrha said as she looked around the room, just now realizing she hadn't seen Roland's sister in quite some time. She found this to be very unusual as she had yet to see them separated.

"My sister loves to learn so Professor Goodwitch is with her in the library. Apparently Ozpin is offering her a small job there. He said something about inventory and what not." Roland chuckled softly as he leaned back in his chair, a little more relaxed than usual. He then sighed as he looked at his hand. Ozpin was right about one thing, it was going to take some getting used to. He was also going to need to relearn how to fight with something he couldn't even feel. While he was looking at his hand he heard Nora shift in her seat. He glanced at her to see her looking at him with a puzzled look on her face. "What is it Nora?" He asked, concerned that the woman who apparently hated his very existence would want to talk to him.

"You said that you had dust infused into your blood. How…does that happen?" She said silently before looking away again.

"Ah. Well honestly I never thought to explain that part but I figured you all would find out about it sooner or later." He said as he stood up and started to unbutton his shirt.

"Find out about what…why are you taking off your shirt?" Nora said as she looked back at him, startled at the sight of him shirtless. No matter how hard she tried to not look, she couldn't help but be impressed with what she saw. The young man standing before her was the definition of a warrior and a specimen. Scars covered his body, from his shoulders and chest down to his abs. But that wasn't what really caught her attention. He had tribal tattoos scattered on his chest, abdomen, and ribs. Everything sort of spiral and rune could be seen tattooed into his skin. But as he turned around her, and the rest of Team JNPR, all let out a gasp. On his back was a large tattoo of a burning nevermore. Its wings tattered with the entire massive bird burning in a dark orange ink. Nora was so intrigued by it that she hadn't even noticed that she had stood up and walked over to Roland. Before she could stop herself she ran her fingers across one of its wings. "Is this ink…made out of dust? It's beautiful." She asked softly before snapping out of her trance and darting back to her seat. Pyrrha and Jaune looked at her puzzled before glancing at each other, confused by what just happened.

"Yes. All of my tattoos are from a special type of ink that my tribe would use to infuse special warriors with dust. It's deemed as a great honor amongst my people because of the extremely painful infection that comes after the ink settles into your body. Some people don't even survive a day after their first tattooing. Very few had as many markings as me." He replied as he put his shirt back on and picked up his jacket. "I feel that is enough talk of my past for one day. Perhaps we can continue this later? Before we do anything I would like to ask you all a favor." He continued after slipping his uniform coat back on and dusting it off.

"Uh…sure. What is it?" Jaune said, slightly confused.

"Would you three like to eat dinner with me? Professor Ozpin said that there was a nice café not far from here that was still open. I figured that the dining facility was already closed so it was no point going there. Besides, in my tribe the best way to bond with new friends is with food." Roland said with a confident smile.

The three other members of JNPR looked at each other for a few moments before Jaune stood up and grabbed his own uniform jacket. He slipped it on and opened the door to their room before saying with a smile. "Of course Roland. We would love to eat dinner with you."


	10. Chapter 10

X

As Roland and the rest of Team JNPR exited their room they couldn't help but notice the sudden rustling and hushed voices behind the door of Team RWBY's room. As the four of them stood there Roland turned to his new teammates with a puzzled look. Jaune chuckled silently as he sneaked over to the door and knelt down beside it, listening to some of the whispering. He slowly motioned Pyrrha to join him and she tip toed to his side. They both put their ears to the door to listen in on their friends behind the door.

"If you want to see the new guy so badly then just go over there and knock Yang. I mean how bad can it be?" They heard Ruby say in frustration.

On the other side of the door Team RWBY sat on their beds trying to decide if they should approach Team JNPR yet. "Because Ruby, you don't just approach a team in mourning like that. I'm sure it's awkward enough across the hall without us getting involved right now. It's not just polite to go up to people like that. I mean did you hear the earful Nora gave that guy?" Yang said defensively before laying back on her bed and sighed.

"Yeah but isn't randomly approaching people how you two met me?" Blake asked as she rolled onto her side and yawned before reaching for a book.

"Yeah…but that's different Blake. Because…well you know." Yang said in an embarrassed tone. Before rolling of her bed and laying on Blake's.

"It's different because you had a crush on Blake since the moment you saw me you mean? Jeez! Would you two get ahold of yourselves while others are in the room? I mean look at you Yang. Miss Confidence being tamed by a cat." Weiss said grin before sticking her tongue out at Yang and Blake. Yang responded with a prompt flash of her middle finger before sitting up.

"Hey! I am far from tamed Weiss. And what about you? It's not like you aren't getting any action. I never thought I would see the day where the Ice Queen was brought down by my sister and two separate guys." Yang said with an evil grin.

"Yang…" Ruby said with a deep blush before burying her face in her pillow.

"Well I can't help it that most of the guys here are intimidated by you and Blake. I mean you two are so protective of each other and just happen to be some of the best fighters in the school." Weiss said as she tried to hide her own embarrassment. "Besides, it's not like I did anything with Jaune. I mean he is cute I guess and he has gotten better than when I first met him. But he still has some improvements he should work on." She said as she looked out the window.

"Oh come on!" Jaune exclaimed from the other side of the door before getting elbowed by Pyrrha.

"So you did go on a date with her." Pyrrha said with a growl of jealousy.

"Oh? It looks like we have some mice in our wall. Blake?" Yang said as she winked and nudge at Blake.

"Did you really just make that joke Yang? Fine I'll do it this time." Blake said as her ears folded back in frustration at Yang's joke. She then stood up, walked over to the door as silently as she could and yanked the door open. She jumped back as Jaune and Pyrrha both fell at her feet. Yang joined Blake at the doorway, pun at the ready before she looked up to notice Roland.

"Oh! Uh…hi! You're the new guy named…" Yang said with a hint of fluster in her voice before helping Blake get Jaune and Pyrrha on their feet.

Roland helped brush his two fallen comrades off before bowing his head and extending his right hand. "Yes. I'm Roland Egle, I'll be living across the hall from you now. It's nice to meet you." He hadn't thought about his false arm before extending it and he suddenly felt a tinge of regret as he realized he did. _Fuck. I forgot all about that!_ He screamed in his head as he started to retract his hand back down to his side. But before he could do so, Blake grabbed it and shook it happily.

"Roland? That's an interesting name. I'm Blake Belladonna and this is Yang Xiao Long. Over there is Weiss Schnee and Team RWBY's leader, Ruby." Blake said with a smile before realizing she didn't have her bow on. She quickly let go of Roland's false hand before dashing across the room and grabbing her bow. As she did so the rest of Team RWBY joined the others at the door before Roland cleared his throat.

"There is no need to hide who you are Blake. Being a faunus is a great honor in this world. In fact the tribe I come from worships a faunus named Dust Mother. My people believe faunus to be holy people in this world. Of course the Dust Mother isn't a cat like yourself. And I remember hearing that a lot of people named their children after colors inside the kingdoms. I'm sure my name is odd to a lot of you." He said with a laugh before hiding his arm behind his back.

"Oh? I've never heard of people worshiping a faunus before. What kind is your goddess? And if there is no need for me to hide who I am then there is no need for you to hide your arm from us. No matter the circumstances that led you to receive that arm you must be proud of what makes you. As hypocritical as that sounds coming from me. But you know first impressions are important and not everyone in this world is as understanding as the eight of us in this room." Blake said as she let her bow drop onto her bed with a smile.

"I believe she is a type of fox actually. And you are correct. There is no reason for me to hide my arm. I only did so out of respect to Ren's friends. I'm sure you all miss him very much and I hope you realize I am not trying to replace him. I'm sorry I am here and he is not." Roland said as he brought his hand back down to his side, its cold metal pressed tightly against his leg.

Yang walked up to him and grabbed his hand and brought it up to her eye level. She smiled before dropping it. "You have no reason to apologize Roland. We all lives dangerous lives and know we could die on some missions. He gave up his life to save you so you should be grateful." She winked at him as she walked over to her bed and leaned against it. "So, what do you kids got planned?" She said with a grin.

"We were just about to go get some dinner at a café, have you four ate already?" Pyrrha chimed in from the doorway.

"Actually we haven't. Would you mind if we came with you?" Ruby said out of excitement.

"Of course you guys can come with us!" Jaune said with a grin.

"Sounds like a plan everyone. Let's get going." Ruby said as her team walked out into the hall with Roland and the others.


	11. Chapter 11

XI

Later that night as teams RWBY and JNPR sat around a table at a local café Ruby sat next to Roland. She kept quite while the others talked until Roland finally turned to her to talk about the youngest member Team RWBY.

"So I hear you are a scythe user Ruby. I've never met someone who used that weapon. It must be difficult to use." He said before taking a sip of his tea.

"Nah, it's not that hard to use. It's all about speed and keeping the weight of it balanced. My uncle taught me how to use it at my old school. I've never met someone use a halberd either. It's kind of like a scythe isn't it?" Ruby replied, shocked that he was talking to her.

"It is similar except the blade doesn't change the weight of it. Thus it may be easier to swing. Also my halberd has a total of four blades on it. It has its main blade on the front, a hook on the back for tripping your foe or disarming them, and then there are two metal points on both ends for thrusting. It's not as good at large sweeps but its overall weight is much smaller and allows for quicker combat." He said with excitement.

"I'd have to see it in action Roland. I've never seen a halberd in person let alone seen one in a fight so it sounds amazing. Crescent Rose also has a sniper rifle mode. Does your halberd have another function? What's its name?" Ruby asked as she smiled.

"Actually it does have a name. It is important to name every good weapon after it first spills blood. My halberd's name is Gáe Llwch and but it doesn't morph into another weapon like a lot of huntsmen weapons. My halberd is much like Jaune's sword. It is very traditional of my tribe. However I suppose you can count my hand as another weapon due to its abilities." He said this as he rubbed his elbow and clinched his metal fist.

"Does it hurt? Also, you seem to know quite a bit about our way of life for someone who never lived here." Weiss said from across the table.

"Only sometimes. I'm grateful that Ozpin was kind enough to give it to me. And well believe it or not Weiss, my mother was a huntress before she met my father. She decided that she had had enough of our lifestyle and wanted to escape from it. She told me about how she had lost many friends doing what we do. I'm sad to see that she wasn't lying about how dangerous this line of work is." He replied sadly before finishing his tea.

"Was your mother among the dead the day we found you?" Nora finally said after being silent most of the night. Everyone at the table stopped what they were doing and looked at her in shock. None of them expected her to speak to Roland. Nora's reaction to this response was one of disgust as she looked away from them.

"No. Nina and I's mother died in childbirth when my sister was born. Nina hates her being brought up because she blames herself to this day. But enough about me and my past. I'm here in the now with you seven. I am grateful for you all." He said with a smile before looking at a clock on the wall. "We should be getting back everybody. It's getting late and we do have class in the morning." He said with the agreement of everyone else. The group exited the cafe and continued down the street with Yang, Blake, and Roland bringing up the rear.

"So Roland. Before you got here were you romantically involved with anyone?" Yang said much to the shock of Blake. Yang glanced over at her lover and winked with a smile which made Blake blush a little.

Roland laughed slightly at the thought of the question. It had never occurred to him that he should discuss his past personal life with his new friends before now. _I guess I should be honest with her. Besides, she is fairly attractive._ He thought to himself before responding.

"Actually no. My people believe love is only something that one shares with their life mate. However we also believe in free expression of attraction. It is not uncommon in my tribe for one to have multiple relationships before they settle down with their wife or husband. In fact several people have relationships much like yours with Blake. It is not uncommon to want sexual relationships with someone of the same sex. It helps prevent premarital pregnancy and it allows you to bond with your closest friends." He replied confidently.

Blake blushed heavily at this at the thought of Roland being so open about his own sexuality, let alone being so accepting of her and Yang's relationship. _Does this mean he has been with men and women? I never would have taken him to be that way,_ She thought to herself before looking away, hiding her blushing face. To this Yang and Roland laughed.

"Oh don't do that Blake. I've never slept with anyone myself. I was always too busy to pursue a lover. Not to mention many people in my tribe were intimidated by me. In fact I once considered becoming a Priest of The Faunus for my tribe. It's an order of holy men and women that stay abstinence from all vices in life to stay pure for the Dust Mother. My sister was actually training to become one because of her visions. " He said kind of sadly, thinking back on his old life with the tribe.

"Why didn't you?" Blake asked while her ear twitched.

"Priest of The Faunus must be born with the gift of foresight. I was born without this, unlike Nina, so I had to give up on that thought and take up the role men in my family have taken for generations. The role of a warrior." He responded with a smile. He thought to himself how silly his tribe must sound to these outsiders.

"Pyrrha told us about your tattoos. She said they are beautiful. Maybe we can see them one day?" Yang said as she elbowed Blake. Blake gently took Yang's hand in her own and smiled as the three of them continued to walk.

"Maybe. I wouldn't be against showing you two them. I take great pride in them actually. And besides, it'll be hard to hide them when we go swimming in gym class." He said as he looked up at the moon above him.

"That's right, you are in our classes. Good thing we are going home now because we do have class early." Blake said as she remembered her schedule.

As the group returned to their dorms everyone hugged each other and prepared to go into their rooms. Ruby and Weiss told the rest of the group that they were not tired just yet so they walked down the hall towards their floor's recreation room. Blake and Yang smiled at the two of them as they sneaked into their own room and turned out the light. Team JNPR stood alone in the hallway before Jaune, Pyrrha, and Nora decided that they were not tired enough as well so they followed Ruby and Weiss down the hall. This left Roland alone before he retired to his room and laid on the bed that used to be Ren's.

 _What the fuck am I going to do about these people? I never thought I'd be in the same line of work as you mom. I hope I don't get anyone killed because of being stupid._ He thought to himself as he laid in the dark. After several minutes he grew restless and decided to join the others down the hall. As he exited his room he forgot that nobody had told him where to go to get to the recreation room so he decided to see if Yang and Blake were still awake so they could guide him there. He approached their door and knocked silently, as he did so the door cracked open slightly. _They must have not closed the door all the way,_ He thought as he reached for the doorknob. He could hear silent gasps and giggling inside and before he could say anything Blake showed up in front of him in only her bra and panties, frustration in her eyes as she stood in the doorway. Roland tried to not look at her body but he quickly found himself glancing down at the faunus in front of him.

"Well don't just stand there Roland. Get in here!" Yang called from inside the room. From what Roland could see she was laying under the blankets on Blake's bed with her clothes laying on the floor next to it. Blake grabbed him by his tie and yanked him into the room, undoing his clothes as he closed the door behind him. Blake then pushed him onto her bed and started kissing his face and neck with Yang. Roland gently held Blake's hips as she straddled him, Yang slipping out of the bed and walked over to Weiss' bed to search for something.

"What are you doing?" Roland said as he unhooked Blake's bra, kissing her breasts as she tilted her head back and pushed him to lay back on her bed. Yang returned to the bed, her long blonde hair covering her breasts in the dark room.

"I had to grab a condom. Weiss keeps some under her bed for when she sees Neptune." Yang said with a wolfish grin as Blake undid Roland's pants, slipping them off aggressively. Yang and Blake proceeded to perform oral on Roland. He laid his head back and looked up at the bottom of Yang's bed as he felt the two of them pleasure him together. The two of them stopped briefly to exchange kisses before Yang ripped the condom wrapper open with her teeth and handed it to him. He pulled the condom out of the wrapper and slide it on as Blake and Yang climbed under the blankets. They kissed, nibbled, and rubbed each other as he looked on before Blake motioned for him to join them with Yang moaning softly at the touch of Blake's fingers. He smiled at the two beautiful women in front of him before he crawled in the bed with them.


	12. Chapter 12

XII

Roland sat at the edge of the bed in silence as he thought about what had just happened. He looked back at the two girls he had just lost his virginity to and smiled as they sat up, the blanket sliding off of Yang's body.

"Can't sleep? I hope the bed isn't too crowded." Blake said as her ears perked up.

"It's not that. I just don't want your roommates to come in and make this moment awkward for us three. I also just can't help but think about how my first two lovers where two ladies as beautiful as you two." Roland said as grinned. He didn't want to say it but the fact he had slept with a woman who was a member of the race his tribe worshiped almost gave him the chills.

"Don' worry about that. Blake can hear them coming before they even leave the recreation room. Besides I'm pretty sure they knew this was our plan all along. They try to give us some time alone just as we give them time alone." Yang said as she stretched as she placed her arm around Blake's waist before kissing her on the cheek, to which Blake smiled shyly.

"You two make a lovely couple. Thank you for your kindness, it shows me that I won't be too badly hated here for my mistakes." He said before laying between them with each of them cuddling up to him, their warm bodies making him smile.

As Roland laid between Yang and Blake he looked at his arm sadly. Even though he enjoyed sleeping with the two laying with him he couldn't help regret that he could only feel their bodies with one hand. It brought him sadness to think that he would only be able to feel with his non-dominate hand for the rest of his life. As he laid there he thought about everything that had happened to him as of lately. Losing his tribe, his arm, Ren's death, Yang and Blake, and his sister being alone during all of it. _Shit! I forgot about Nina! I need to find her._ Roland thought to himself before slipping out of the bed as the two women stirred. Yang started to sit up in protest before he told her that he had to find his sister to talk to her about everything that happened. She nodded her head in agreement before laying back down, pulling at the covers.

"You should get going anyways, I'm sure Weiss and Ruby will be back shortly." Yang said as she snuggled up to Blake before falling back asleep.

Roland silently put his clothes back on before leaving Team RWBY's room. He started down the hall when he heard a familiar voice behind him saying his name. Startled he spun around to find his little sister standing behind him giggling as she realized that she caught her brother by surprise.

"Oh Nina, I was just about to go find you. How are you? Are you okay here?" Roland said as he walked down the hallway with his sister towards the exit of the dormitory.

"What were you doing Roland? You seemed like you didn't want anyone to see you." Nina said as she looked up at her older brother in confusion.

"Well...I was just visiting some new friends. They wanted to talk about something with me in private and so I had to make sure there were no nosey little girls around. How are you liking it here? Did they get you a room?" He replied as he patted Nina on the head and laughed, much to her protest and frustration.

"I have a room at the library. Professor Goodwitch was kind enough to empty out an old storage room for me to have. She said it was a perk to working there. Brother...we shouldn't be here. Things here aren't what they seem." Nina said as they exited the building and sat together on its steps.

"Things aren't what they seem? Did you have a vision or something?" He replied as he looked up at the moon above them.

"Yes. I saw this school in flames, its students fighting a large battle against a tall shadowy man with a glowing woman at his side. I saw people dying brother. I could feel their anger and fear as they faced an enemy they once called their friend. I saw a massive nevermore perch itself on the top of a building and call out as the battle raged below it. I'm scared Roland. You know what the nevermore means." She said frantically before stepping down in front of her older brother, looking him in the eye.

 _A nevermore? Shit, she has a point. If she saw that then it means it will happen no matter what we do._ Roland thought to himself as he thought back to the last time someone had a vision with a nevermore in it. He looked at his arm before clenching his mechanical fist and standing up and placing it on his sister's head.

"Tell me Nina. Were we in it this time?" He said quietly as he motioned for his sister to keep walking with him.

"Not that I could see. But your halberd was standing on a pile of smoldering rubble afterwards. Blood was dripping from its blades. I could feel your emotions brother, you felt so angry. I've never felt you so angry before and I didn't like it!" Nina responded, getting more and more frantic with each passing word. "And another thing. The nevermore in the vision? It had a metal wing. Just like the one that Head Priestess Vel was said to see at your birth. You should go back to your room. You have class in the morning." Nina said before turning to walk back towards the library, leaving Roland stunned and alone with his sister's words still echoing in his mind.

"Yeah...I should get going. I'm sure tomorrow will be busy." He said as he thought back to the vision that was said to have plagued the spiritual leader of his people for weeks before and after his birth.


	13. Chapter 13

XIII

Seventeen years prior to that night, Head Priestess Vel awoke from her sleep covered in sweat and panting, struggling to catch her breath as she laid in shock of the dream she had. It was the same dream she had been having for about a week now. This dream was one filled with many emotions and many cryptic scenes she had yet to understand. She sat up slowly and reached over to the small table next to her bed and grabbed the rag sitting on top of it. She wiped away the sweat on her face before standing up to make her bed. Afterwards she walked over to a small chest at the foot of the bed and pulled a fresh set of robes out of it. She slipped them on before sitting on a chair in the corner of her small room.

 _Dear Dust Mother, please bring me guidance and help me understand the images you flood my mind with at night._ She thought to herself as she held her head in her hands, struggling to process the visions that she saw every night. She sighed before finally standing up and walking out of her room and into the sitting area of her small house. While she sat on a chair in her sitting area she heard the sound of a familiar set of footsteps approach her doorway. Before she knew it the cheery voice of one of her closest friends chimed out as she walked into the house.

"Hello! Vel? Oh, there you are." The always smiling Victoria called out as she glanced around the entry to Vel's home.

Vel smiled as her dear friend embraced her before sitting on a chair in the entryway of the small home. Melaena was in her mid-thirties but didn't look like it with her young face, short black hair, and green eyes. She was pregnant with her first child and was due very soon.

"Good morning Melaena, how could I help my friend?" Vel said as she poured some water for her and her friend before sitting across from her. As the Head Priestess it was Vel's job to consult people on spiritual matters and provide blessings or readings on their futures. She had expected her friend to come to her for a blessing and reading on her child's future before the birth of it.

"I am sure you know that I'm due any day now." Melaena said as she patted her stomach with a smile. "I'd like you to bless my unborn child before their birth. I know it's not like me to buy into your religion because I'm an outsider here, however I figured it'd be alright to at least get a blessing." She said before looking up at Vel with a serious look in her eyes.

Vel sat for a moment and thought about when Melaena had come to her village looking for refuge five years ago. She was bruised and beaten, barely able to stand, and kept mumbling three names over and over. Vel convinced the village elders to take her in, fearing that the woman would die if nothing was done for her. Melaena spent the next week sleeping as she mumbled and screamed out randomly. After she finally came to she explained to Vel that she was a huntress who was part of a team that was tasked with scouting the forest for any Grimm activity. She continued to explain by telling her about how they stumbled onto a massive deathstalker that killed all three of her teammates before it finally went down. For the past five years however, Melaena had adjusted slowly to her new life in the village and even married the chief of the tribe. Vel leaned forward to take her friend's hands as she nodded in agreement.

"Okay. I'll bless you, your child, and its future within this village." Vel said as she closed her eyes and started to say a prayer for her friend and her unborn child. As she prayed she reached over to Melaena's stomach and placed her hand on it. When she did she instantly felt a sharp burn in her head and got flashes of her dream that was plaguing her. She darted up and backed away from Melaena, much to her own shock.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with the baby?" Melaena said with concern as she started to stand and walk over to the horrified Vel. She helped Vel to her seat before sitting back down in front of her. "What the hell Vel? You've never acted this way. Everything okay?" She asked finally.

"Melaena, I've been having visions for the past couple days that I couldn't explain." Vel said as she tried to calm down. "However I think I may have an answer to what I've been seeing. I think these visions are about your child."

Melaena stiffened at the sound of her dear friend being plagued by visions about her child that would scare her like this. She said in silence as she waited for Vel to explain these visions.

"Every time I have these visions it starts with the image of a massive nevermore with a metal wing flying over a burning city. It had a man riding on its back, he has long white hair and a black arm that brought death to everything it touched. This man was filled with hatred and wanted nothing more than to bring pain to those who had wronged him. The man and the nevermore brought destruction to everyone and everything that stood in their way. And then I saw a group of young faunus, three women and one man, standing in front of him, the skull of the nevermore laying under their feet. This group of faunus are sent by the Dust Mother herself and were the only ones capable of stopping his rampage but they are struck down by him and his rage for they were standing alone against him. I am sorry Melaena, but when I touched your stomach I felt these visions coming to life within you. I fear that your child will grow up to be this man. I'm sorry and I still don't know if these visions are an omen for you future son but I need to tell you these things so you may take care in how your child's future comes to him or her." Vel said as she watched her friend's reaction grow from concern into full blown fear.

"How can you be certain that this is a future? What if it's just a twisted image of some legend or fear or something? Please don't tell me my child is destined to terrible things." Melaena replied with tears forming in her eyes.

"Oh no sweetie I just think that these visions mean that bad things are to come. I don't believe that this future is unavoidable but I do know that what the Dust Mother shows me is always something that could happen but not something that is certain to happen." Vel explained carefully, trying to keep her friend from getting too stressed about her dreams.

"Okay...I mean you are the expert here Vel. I'm sure it's not anything to be worried about." Melaena said before trailing off, her eyes growing wide. She looked down at the floor as she realized that her water had broken. "Oh shit..." She said as she started to wince at the feeling of her labor beginning."

Vel jumped out of her chair and ran outside her home and started to call for help as her friend went into labor. As midwives came running to her she thought to herself sadly. _Dear Dust Mother, please don't let this child do the horrible things in the dreams you give me. Its mother is too kind of a woman to have that burden on her mind._ And with that she ran back into the home to help birth the child of her closest friend.


	14. Chapter 14

XIV

Roland sighed as he entered his room, from the looks of it the rest of his team had already started to fall asleep. As he silently undressed and got ready for bed he noticed that Nora had started to toss and turn in her sleep. He sat on his bed and carefully watched her as she started to call out softly at first and then started screaming out.

"Ren...Ren! Please no. Please stop bleeding. It'll be okay I promise Ren..." She called out as she thrashed back and forth in her bed. The more and more she called out the louder she got until Pyrrha and Jaune both sat up and looked at her in concern. Roland silently walked over to Nora and placed his metal hand on her shoulder.

"Nora, you're just dreaming. It's okay it's just a bad dream." He said reassuringly, trying to get her to calm down. Suddenly her eyes snapped open and she looked at him with disgust before sitting up quickly.

"Get your fucking hands off me!" She screamed as she punched Roland in the chest, making him take a step back as she jumped off of her bed. She clinched her fists as she stared into his eyes before turning and running out of the room.

"Nora! Pyrrha please go check on her." Jaune said, stunned at what just happened. Pyrrha nodded in agreement before chasing after her friend.

As Nora ran down the hall she slowed and leaned against a wall, panting as she remembered the day Ren died. She heard footsteps quickly approaching her so she readied herself to confront whoever it was. She sighed with relief as she saw it was only Pyrrha and so she calmed down before sitting on the floor, tears forming in her eyes. Pyrrha carefully approached her distressed friend before sitting on the floor next to her. She then held her close and let Nora cry in her arms.

"It's going to be okay Nora. I know you miss him. We all do. But Roland isn't to blame for what happened that day. We went into this knowing that one day we would have to face the fact that we do a dangerous job. We just had to experience this too early." Pyrrha said silently as she held Nora close to her chest.

"I just don't know why it had to happen to us. Why couldn't we had just had everything go as planned? Why must he replace Ren?" Nora sobbed as she looked up at Pyrrha, tears rolling down her face before she got a serious look on her face. "I'm never accepting him Pyrrha. He isn't my friend, teammate, or equal. He will never be okay in my eyes. If it wasn't for him then Ren would be alive still." Nora said as she pushed Pyrrha away from her and walked back to their room.

The next day was Roland's first day of classes. He struggled to keep up with the classes as he had never been formally taught anything in a classroom. All of his knowledge was from his parents or the village elders teaching him all he needed to know about life in his tribe. He grew frustrated at the end of his history class and was pulled to the side by the teacher who tried assuring him that he would get used to his new life at the academy. As he walked out of the class he noticed that the rest of his team had waited for him to exit the room. Jaune and Pyrrha smiled as he approached them.

"You guys waited for me? You didn't have to do that." Roland said as he joined his team before they all walked towards the dining facility together.

"Yeah well some of us didn't care if you found the dining facility or not." Nora said under her breath, much to the frustration of Pyrrha who shot Nora a glare as they four of them walked together.

"We have combat training after lunch. I have a feeling you'll be more at home in that class than any other." Jaune replied, trying to ease the tension between his teammates.

"Thank you Jaune. I'm sure it'll be fine. I mean it's only sparring right? The worse thing that can happen is that the teacher has me face everyone because I'm the new kid." Roland replied with a chuckle as they entered the dining hall to eat.

"Why would that be bad? I mean you are a pretty good fighter." Jaune asked as they stood in line to get their food.

"Well because I don't like being the center of attention firstly. I think it'd be kind of shitty to just throw me out there to show everyone what I can do on my first day without knowing anything about the other members of this school." Roland explained as they picked up their food and walked to a table to eat. Roland had never liked being shown off to anyone even though being the son of his tribe's leader he was constantly being watched by everyone in the village. Given the circumstances it felt nice to be somewhat normal with other people his age.

Team JNPR ate and conversed as they enjoyed their break from classes. Pyrrha explained to Roland that he would get used to everything with their help and not to let it affect him too much. It was refreshing for him to be shown such kindness by his new friends. _I've never been treated like this before. Everyone at the village treated me differently because of my family. Is this what being just another student is like?_ Roland thought to himself as they walked into their combat training class. As they walked to their seats they sat behind Team RWBY who turned to chat with them. Yang, Blake, and Roland all laughed as they remembered their night together. As they did so, the rest of Team JNPR looked on confused.

"So big guy, are you ready for some action?" Yang said with a grin as the rest of the class started to come in.

"I guess as ready as I can be. I'm still a little unsure about how well I will do because of my hand. Also there is the fact that I don't have my weapon." Roland replied nervously, remembering he hasn't seen his weapon since the battle. He started to say something again as Professor Goodwitch walked into the middle of the room, causing the students to stop their chatter. She looked at her clipboard briefly before clearing her throat.

"Welcome back to class students. We have a busy day ahead of us with a few new students here to give us a demonstration of their skills. First we have Roland Egle of Team JNPR. Mr. Egle would you mind coming down here?" She said as she found Roland in the crowd.

"Don't worry, you got this Ro." Ruby said as she turned around and smiled at Roland.

"Yeah...sure. Let's hope so" Roland said as he walked down the steps to the fighting area. As he approached Professor Goodwitch he nervously turned to her. "Excuse me, I don't have my weapon. I haven't seen my halberd since my team found me."

"Unfortunately your weapon was left behind in the rush to get you here. However we can help you build a halberd or any other type of weapon if you want a replacement." Goodwitch said with a frown as she realized that they forgot to talk to him about these details.

"Oh okay. That's fine with me. But how am I supposed to fight without a weapon?" He asked, confused at his situation.

"With this of course. Crush it and imagine any weapon of your choice." Goodwitch replied with a smile as she pulled a small bottle out of her pocket and placed it in his armored hand. As Roland looked down he noticed it was a small bottle of dust with his name on a tag that was loosely tied around it. He looked up at the professor with excitement as he realized that this was his chance to test the abilities of his new arm. He smiled as he nodded and turned to get in his starting position. "Okay. Now that that has been taken care of I'd like to introduce four transfer students from Haven Academy in Mistral. Team GRAY, please stand up. Team GRAY consists of Gwyn Pendragon, Rose Albaz, Amber Morrigan, and Kamaitachi Yamabuki. Now which one of you will like to spar with Mr. Egle?" She said as four faunus, three female and one male, stood up from their seats towards the front of the classroom. After a few moments of discussing which one would battle Roland amongst themselves, one walked down to the battle area.

The faunus who decided to accept the challenge was an athletic looking girl with long red hair going down to her waist, red wolf ears, and a thick bushy tail that she waved proudly. She smiled at Roland as she drew a strange looking sword from its scabbard at her side, her expression morphing from a friendly smile to that of a look of determination.

"Oh yes, Miss Morrigan. Thank you for stepping up. Are you ready?" Professor Goodwitch asked as she turned to the wolf faunus who nodded with excitement before grinning at Roland. She then turned to Roland. "Are you ready Mr. Egle?"

"Yes ma'am." Roland said as he felt the excitement of a fight starting to flow through him again. He broke the bottle in his hand and pictured a short sword like his opponent's and looked on in amazement as it changed from a metal arm into a black bladed short sword. He gave it a few swings to test the weight and speed of it before readying himself to do battle with his fellow new student.

Professor Goodwitch nodded and looked at both students before raising her hand and dropping it quickly. "Begin!"

Roland and his enemy bolted towards each other, the excitement and fury running through them as their first battle at Beacon Academy went underway.


	15. Chapter 15

**Note: I am going to start posting single chapters of my work as I feel it is taking me too long to provide my readers with material. I hope this change is not a difficult one for my readers but instead a smooth transition. Thank you for your patience.**

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XV

The two students traded blows quickly as they danced around the battle area. Roland had a clear advantage in strength and size while Amber was much more nimble and precise in her movements. They kept pace with each other with one gaining an upper hand for a short time before the other found an opening and struck back. Roland felt awkward using his arm as a sword but was glad he had used the same length as his enemy so that he could get in close and use his strength to parry her easily. After several minutes of back and forth fighting Roland brought his bladed arm down hard as Amber deflected it, took a step back and pulled a small trigger on her sword's handle with a smile. She then leaped forward and swung her sword in a wide, backhanded arc that seemed to be purposefully aimed to come short of him. As Roland was about to make an attack he couldn't believe his eyes as the sword let out a loud bang while its length almost doubled as it went through the air, giving him barely enough time to bring his own blade up to block it.

"Don't lower your guard for a second big guy. If this were a real fight you might've lost another arm just then." The redheaded faunus with a grin and a wink as she jumped back away from Roland.

 _What in the hell was that? Is that her weapon's special function or something? By the looks of it I'm at a disadvantage here because her sword is now long enough to keep me from getting too close to her. Unless I force her to bring her blade back down to a smaller size._ Roland thought as he overlooked Amber.

Amber stood with a confident stance, both hands on her sword's handle and the grin still on her face. Her tail swayed happily as she awaited Roland to make a move. It was clear to him that this faunus would be a purely defensive fighter in this match due to her being outmatched in size and strength. Right as Roland was making a plan to force her into attacking, Amber dashed forward and thrust her sword towards his chest. Roland stepped to the side and slammed his blade down onto hers, pinning it into the ground before stepping on it and swinging his blade at her. She ducked down quickly and pulled her sword's trigger, making its blade shrink again witch another loud bang, which in turn made Roland's foot lose balance as the blade slide from under his foot. Amber spun to swipe at him but before she could complete the attack Roland grabbed her tail and yanked her to the side. As he pulled her tail Amber let out a fierce scream and looked Roland dead in the eyes, her own eyes changing from an icy blue to a deep blood red that sent a numbing sensation throughout his body.

"Let go." Amber growled in a hauntingly calm voice and before Roland could move he realized that his body snapped to the command without hesitation. "Now kneel." She commanded as she pressed a button at the top of her sword's handle, making it morph into a large revolver. Roland dropped to his knees without hesitation as he felt his opponent's gaze reach deeper into his mind. Amber smiled as she lifted his chin with the barrel of the revolver in her right hand and punched him in the face with her left hand. As she punched him she let out a small whimper as her hand let out a sharp snapping sound. She shook her hand in pain and her eyes changed back to their normal color which in turn lifted the numbing sensation that had taken over Roland.

 _This is my chance! I have to end this here before she can do whatever she just did to me again._ Roland thought to himself as he felt whatever control she had over him leave him. He exploded forward and tackled her to the ground, pinning her under him as he raised his blade to drive a killing blow into her chest. Right as he was about to drive his blade downwards a series of four loud bangs rang out in the room and an intense stinging sensation erupted through his chest and stomach, leaving him breathless. As his body started to collapse to the ground next to Amber his hand morphed back into its normal form and he looked down to see her revolver's barrel smoking and a pained grin slowly form on her face. As he fell to the ground his vision faded as he passed out from the force of the rounds he took to his midsection.

"I told you to not let your guard down big guy. Sorry I used my non-lethal rounds on you so close but consider that payback for grabbing my tail." She said as she raised her swollen left hand up to investigate it. After a few seconds the lights in the room snapped back on and Professor Goodwitch approached the two with a pleased look on her face.

"Excellent work. Miss Morrigan is the winner of this fight. Now class, if there is anything to learn from what we just saw it is that even the strongest and most powerful of opponents can be brought down with some speed, a little cunning, and the right application of one's semblance. Miss Morrigan clearly understood that she was outmatched in terms of strength, power, and explosive might and forced Mr. Egle into dropping his guard several times and making what could have been a fatal error if this was actual combat. Team JNPR, please escort your fallen teammate to the medical staff to look him over. Even I thought that had to hurt. Miss Morrigan, are you injured?" Goodwitch asked as she turned to Amber who putting her weapon, now in its sword mode, back into its scabbard.

"I think something in my hand might be broken but other than that I'm fine ma'am. If you don't mind though, could I go to the medical staff just in case? Also, it might be wise to get a wheelchair for him because I used my custom non-lethal rounds on him. Taking one to the gut at that distance would put anyone out for an hour or so. Sadly for him he took four at point blank range. He'll be lucky if he can do anything over the next couple days." She said as she held her hand up in front of her, frowning at the amount of swelling that was occurring in it and then looking down at Roland. She couldn't help but feel slightly bad for him considering she may have gone a little overboard with shooting him that many times. _Oh well, the asshole shouldn't have grabbed my tail_. She thought to herself as she helped Team JNPR put Roland in a wheelchair and start to walk him to the infirmary.

A few minutes later as they neared the medical station Pyrrha finally broken the awkward silence by clearing her throat and turning to Amber.

"I think you did really well in that sparring match…" She started but then trailed off as she forgot Amber's name.

"Amber. And thank you, your friend did pretty good himself. Although you should tell him when he wakes up that it's impolite to grab a faunus' tail or ears without permission, even in a fight." Amber said as she brought her bushy tail to her side and rubbed it proudly.

"Nice to meet you. This is Jaune, Nora, and I'm Pyrrha. You've already met our teammate Roland. I'll be sure to have a talk with Roland about grabbing your tail later. Although I do have some questions about your fight with him if you don't mind." Pyrrha continued, much to the surprise of Amber.

"Sure, ask me anything Pyrrha. But can it wait until a little later? I'd like to collect my thoughts and talk to my team about my injury after seeing the doctors." Amber replied after some hesitation.

"Sure thing Amber. I think we will be coming back a little later to see if he's woken up." Replied Pyrrha with a smile as Jaune and Nora nodded in approval. Shortly after that the five students arrived at the infirmary and parted ways as the doctors took a look at Amber and Roland.

"Miss Morrigan, is it fine with you if we put you in the same room as Mr. Egle? Since you two came from the same class it would be easier to have you two together until he wakes up." One nurse said to Amber as she wrote down information about her on a clipboard.

"Of course. I'd like to be in the same room as him when he wakes up anyways. He and I have some things we need to discuss." Replied Amber as she waved her tail more excited than usual and followed the nurse into her room.


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey everyone! I hope everybody is still enjoying Egle Rising! As I said in my last post, I will continue to post a chapter at a time instead of posting in my old format. I decided I wanted to go ahead and show some actual Team GRAY action after last chapter's sparing match between Amber and Roland. Don't forget to let me know what you think in a review as it's the best way for me to improve my story. I hope you guys are as excited as I am to see more Team GRAY in the future.**

* * *

XVI

As Roland awakened he found himself laying on a hospital bed with an intense pain in his abdomen and a small television in the corner on the news. The news anchor was covering a story about another White Fang attack inside the city. Just as Roland was beginning to become interested in the story the television clicked off and a cheerful voice came from across the room.

"Well it's nice to see I didn't kill you big guy. Maybe next time you won't fight so dirty." Amber said as Roland turned to see where the voice was coming from. He looked at her confusedly as he slowly remembered who she was.

The girl at the other end of the room was beautiful, stood at about five foot six, she had long red hair to her hips, ice blue eyes, alert and perky wolf ears, and a long tail that she stroked proudly. The girl was none other then Amber Morrigan.

"You! You shot me in the stomach!" He said angrily as he slowly sat up, wincing at the pain in his chest and stomach.

"Yeah and you pulled my tail and fractured two knuckles in my hand with your stupid face!" Amber yelled back as she held up her bandaged left hand and gave Roland a glare.

"Does pulling your tail piss you off that badly that you shoot someone in the fucking stomach?" Roland came back as he held up his shirt, exposing large bruises on his midsection. "You better be glad my bones are pretty strong from dust or you could have seriously hurt me! I mean what in the hell did you even shoot me with?" He said finally, rubbing the bruises tenderly.

"It's called non-lethal rounds moron. If I wanted to hurt you seriously I would have. Also, your bones are strong from dust…what the hell are you talking about? Is that why your face felt like I was punching a brick wall? What kind of shitty trick is that?" Amber replied as she stood up and angrily approached Roland's bed.

"Oh, so me toughing my body with dust is a shitty trick? What about that weird mind control thing you did to me? Or are we going to just forget you controlling me like a puppet?" Roland shot back as he started to struggle out of his bed.

"It's called semblance you idiot! And I didn't want to use it. You forced me to use it when you violated me!" Amber said as she stood her ground against Roland who was much larger than her.

"Yeah and my semblance is why my 'stupid face' broke your weak ass hand! And violated you? Please! Don't think for a second I'd do any such thing to the likes of you!" He growled as he looked down at Amber.

"Big words for the guy who got his ass kicked by someone half his size!" Amber said, clenching her fists.

As the two continued to go back and forth at each other, Team GRAY silently waited outside their room trying to decide if they should interrupt. The three of them knew the temper of Amber Morrigan well enough and were patiently waiting for her to stop her tantrum.

Rose Albaz silently leaned against the wall next to the door of Roland's infirmary room and listened carefully at the arguing inside the room. Rose Albaz stood at five foot four and had long braided red hair that went past her buttocks and had metallic silver eyes. Being a fox faunus, she had ears much like Amber's except hers were more pointed. She had a tail much like Amber's also but much more fluffy with white fur at the tip of it. She silently listened as the argument inside the room continued.

"Man she sure is laying into him. What do you say Gwyn, should we stop this before she shoots him again?" Rose said as she leaned against the door, trying to get a better spot to hear the argument inside.

"I don't think that'll be necessary nor wise just yet Rose. You know how she gets when people pull her tail. Hell, the poor guy will be lucky if she ever says another kind thing to him for the rest of the semester. Let her do her thing so she doesn't bitch us out later. Besides, you know only you can talk that stubbornly proud wolf down." Replied the leader of Team GRAY, Gwyn Pendragon.

Gwyn Pendragon was blonde, had green eyes, stood at a staggering six foot seven, and was bulging with muscle. Being a ram faunus he sported two curled horns that came out of his head. Gwyn sat in a chair patiently as he knew there would be no talking Amber down from her current mood. He knew that it was better to wait for her to get it out of her system and to let Rose, her lover and best friend, do the talking afterwards. He started to speak again when a young woman dressed in a nurse's outfit approached the door. He quickly stood up to stop her from going in just yet.

"I'm sorry ma'am but I don't think you want to be in there just yet." He said shyly, stepping in front of the young woman.

"I think I'll be just fine. Please step aside, I need to speak with Mr. Egle alone." Said the woman in a commanding voice. She had long black hair and orange eyes along with a very confident air about her.

"Uh. Sure…okay go ahead then." Gwyn said as he sat back down, not wanting to bother the woman too much.

"Smooth Gwyn. Real smooth. I guess you are always the lady's man, huh?" Said the fourth member of the team, Kamaitachi Yamabuki, under her breath.

Yamabuki was sitting calmly on the ground with her eyes closed, waiting silently for Amber to finish with Roland. She was a weasel faunus and had small ears on top of her head with about shoulder length black hair and bright yellow eyes. She was slender and stood at five foot six like Amber. She opened one eye to glance at her leader, whom she was fiercely loyal to, as he shrugged at her statement.

"Hey, I just tried saving the poor girl from the wraith of the demon wolf." Gwyn chuckled as he sat back in the chair.

"You know that she is going to kill you if she ever hears you call her that right?" Rose said with a laugh, struggling to imagine her girlfriend attacking their massive team leader let alone getting past his second in command Yamabuki.

Rose leaned back against the door to listen if the nurse was alive in the room that was seeming to almost turn into a battlefield. She could hear the nurse inside urging both Roland and Amber to calm down so that their injuries could not get any worse and finally Amber yelled out in frustration before stomping towards the door.

"I swear if I ever see that asshole again I'll shoot him in that stupid face of his instead of his stomach!" She said angrily as she swung the door open and walked right into the arms of Rose who kissed her teasingly to calm her down.

"Don't you think that's enough of that Amber? I mean I understand your pride over your tail but it's not like yours is nearly as majestic nor pleasant to look at as mine." Rose said with an evil grin, hoping to edge Amber on more.

"I will kill you Rose. Don't test me. I swear I will shoot you right here in this infirmary so the doctors don't have to worry about having to clean you up." Amber said with a growl before smiling slightly.

"There it is. I swear you're just too easy you big bad wolf." Rose said as she punched Amber in the arm before walking backwards towards the exit. "Come on guys, if we still hurry we can get some lunch before the dining facility closes."

"I swear she eats more than you do Gwyn and she's not even half your size." Yamabuki said as she stood and followed after Rose, grateful to be finally leaving the infirmary.

Inside the room, Cinder was patiently keeping true to her role as a nurse as she went over Roland's chart. _Hmm…so you're able to harden your body through dust in your tattoos? I wonder what else you can do with that ability._ She thought to herself before sitting next to Roland who was now back on his bed.

"You seem to have healed quite well for being shot point blank by a weapon of that caliber Mr. Egle." Cinder said as she kept her cover, confident she could buy her time until it was time for her to drop the act.

"I guess you can say I'm gifted like that." Roland replied with a smile. "Say, you're kind of young to be a nurse aren't you? You seem to be about my age." He questioned her suddenly, much to her distress.

"I'm actually not full time Mr. Egle, I only help out here when I can." Cinder said with a smile as she sat in a chair across from him and crossed her legs. _How do I approach you? You don't seem to be as dense as many of our other agents. I could always lay the breadcrumbs to where we need you to be…_ Cinder thought to herself as she took in who was hopefully going to be her new assignment. She smiled slightly as she stood and walked slowly to Roland who was carefully watching her. As she approached him she pulled out a small syringe and laid out her hand for Roland to put his arm in.

"What's that you got there?" He asked carefully as he shifted his weight on the bed.

"Just something to help you sleep. I'm sure your injuries must be uncomfortable, not to mention your friend seemed to upset you quite a bit." She said as she reached for his arm quickly.

Before Cinder could grab his arm he dashed from the bed and slammed her into the wall with his metal hand around her throat. He pressed slightly on her as he pulled the syringe from her hand and looked it over. It had a mysterious light blue liquid in it with no markings on it. While he looked it over he heard a small chuckle come from the girl he was pinning against the wall.

"Oh my. There's the warrior I was hoping to see. Don't be too rough with me now, I might have to fight back." She said as an evil grin came across her face and her eyes started to glow brightly.

"What's in this? Who are you really? Don't fuck with me, I'll snap your neck right here if I have to." Roland questioned her as he put more pressure on her neck, feeling her start to squirm a little.

"My employer is very interested in you Roland. That syringe is simply a method for us to get you to be more relaxed when we talk to you. It's harmless I swear." She struggled to say as she pulled at his armored hand, trying to get him to ease up on her throat. "You shouldn't trust Ozpin or any of these huntsmen and huntresses, they aren't what they seem. You're a warrior, not some guardian of the weak. You know just as much as I do that you've been doubting this entire set up since you first met Ozpin. Something just doesn't feel right with him does it? You know you don't belong here Roland, you belong in an army. Not in a peacekeeping force." She said as she felt his grip loosen slightly as he started to think about what she was telling him.

"Who are you really?" He asked as he snapped out of it and looked her dead in the eye.

"Me? We can talk about me in private sweetheart, but you should take your medicine first." She said before kicking him in the chest with both feet, knocking him back against the bed. As he started to recover from her blow she jumped on the bed and grappled onto him from behind and brought her fist down on his bruised chest like a hammer before ripping the syringe out of his hand. She hit his chest five more times rapidly, making him collapse onto the bed. She stabbed his arm with the syringe before whispering in his ear "Sleep well Roland, we have much to talk about the next time we meet."


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey everyone! We have now caught up to where I left off before I changed my upload schedule. Now a quick warning before you read this chapter. IT GETS DARK! I feel I need to strongly warn you that this chapter features torture and some detailed violence. I have a feeling some readers have questioned my mature rating for the story because up until now it has only had a little violence, some language, and a brief love scene. Well, we are now starting to get into the more heavy stuff in the story as the villains begin making their move. But not to fear! I promise the story doesn't stay this dark during the rest of it so please bare with me. Well as always please leave any and all feedback in a message or review and let e know how you feel about it. I hope this chapter doesn't scare you guys away.**

* * *

XVII

Several hours later, Cinder entered a deserted warehouse on the outskirts of the city. She sighed softly as she sat down on a ragged old sofa and picked up a newspaper one of her coworkers had left on the arm of the sofa. She settled in after a long day and as she thumbed through the newspaper she heard the familiar sound of someone entering the warehouse through its back entrance. She stood from her seat and was shocked to see Mercury, Emerald, and their employer all coming forward with a woman wearing a sack on her head.

"Sir, my operation today went as expected. He tried to fight me but he was easy to handle in his weakened state. Our reports are accurate, he does not have an aura." Cinder said as she snapped to attention, dropping her criminal cover in front of her leader. She looked on confusedly as Mercury and Emerald shoved their prisoner to the ground and began chaining her to the wall nearby before placing a chair in front of her. "Uh…sir? Is there an issue here?" She said with concern in her voice. They had dealt with people like this before, but never in their base of operations.

"No need to be concerned Lieutenant Fall, your team just so happened to come across this spy as we were arriving. In fact I feel as if _I_ should be the one concerned here since you seem to not have noticed her. Now what was it you were saying about your mission?" Cinder's commander said as he sat down on the sofa and motioned to her to sit in a chair across from it.

"Well sir" Cinder continued as she sat in the chair across from him "it appears that Subject 7359 is indeed exactly what we are looking for. He was raised as a warrior, he is extremely skilled for his young age and lack of formal training, and it appears to me that he does not have an aura." She finished, waiting for the shady man across from her to speak.

After a few moments of silence he leaned forward and looked at her sternly before speaking. "Did you give him the serum, Lieutenant?" He asked slowly as he started to sick back on the sofa.

"Yes sir. It should be taking effect now and will stay in his system for about a week. We should note that this is still the first time the serum has been used in the field, thus there is no telling how he will react to the side effects of it. I propose we activate some agents to monitor him at the academy." She said before glancing over at her teammates who were standing with the chained up prisoner.

"No need for that. If we make a move like that too soon then we might be found by Ozpin. No, instead we need him to come to us willingly. You said that the serum would take effect tonight? So we can count on the dreams starting this early?" The commander said thoughtfully as he looked at his watch.

"Yes sir, the serum is designed to create highly suggestive thoughts and hallucinations in the target. When it starts to leave his system it will cause severe headaches and symptoms of a flu like virus. That is when I will be on station to inject more into him. This will give me several chances to talk to him and plant doubt in his mind. He will hopefully start to search for his own answers and thus will come searching for us. Once we have him in our grasp we can turn him into one of our agents and begin planning the final move to achieving our goal." Cinder said with a smile, thinking about the amount of years she had spent getting connections in Vale's underworld for what would be one of the largest undercover military operations in history.

"Good. In that case I'll leave you to handling our friend over there. Find out what she knows in any way you deem fit. Just remember Lieutenant that she is a huntress. Obviously that means she is tough and ready to take any information she has to her grave. Now I rather you didn't kill her as I have plans for her and would like you to assist Mercury in an emergency surgery on her. Do be somewhat gentle with her Lieutenant." The man said as he stood, accepted Cinder's salute, and strolled out of the warehouse.

Shortly after the man left, Cinder walked slowly to the chair in front of the prisoner and sat in it before nodding to Emerald to take off the sack. Emerald complied by snatching the sack from the woman's head and then punched her hard in the side of the head to daze her. Afterwards her and Mercury both took a step back and let their superior handle the questioning. The young woman in chains slowly looked up at Cinder and spat at her.

"I'll never tell you anything. Ozpin and the other Huntsmen know you're planning something. We have eyes on you wherever you go. Soon we'll find out who your leader is and take care of them." The woman said with a grin.

"Oh we're counting on your people finding out what our plans are. However by the time you figure out what we are going to do, it'll be too late. By then we will have every Huntsman and Huntress in Remnant either in chains or with their head on a pike. Now as for you, we have a special plan for you." Cinder said calmly as she looked into her prisoner's eyes.

"Oh yeah? What if I refuse?" The woman asked as she looked from Cinder to Mercury to Emerald and then back to Cinder.

"Then what we are about to do to you is going to be a lot more painful." Cinder said with a smile. "Mercury, if you wouldn't mind." She continued as she motioned for Mercury to come forward.

Mercury nodded before turning to a small rolling table next to him with a series of syringes and operating tools on it. He rolled the table over to Cinder's side before taking position behind the prisoner, who looked back at him worriedly.

"Now I will make this simple. Either you can tell me how much you know, let us do our jobs, and serve humanity well. Or you can do this the hard way and we can force you into serving humanity." Cinder said as she looked over the table's contents. There was an assortment of several different tools ranging from surgery devices to home appliances and syringes.

"I think you know my answer already lady. You will have to hurt me pretty bad to get me to even think about betraying my people." The woman said confidently as she started to stand before continuing. "I assure you that there is nothing you can do to me that will make me ever…"

"Mercury, can you help our friend out?" Cinder interrupted angrily as she continued to look over the table's contents.

Mercury slammed one of his greaves down on the prisoner's right knee which set off its firing mechanism. The prisoner's knee erupted in a mist of blood and bone fragments as she screamed out in pain and dropped to the floor again. She clenched her teeth as she tried to block the pain out before spitting at Cinder. Cinder nodded at Mercury in response who simply smiled before kicking the woman's left elbow with his shin, making sure to shatter the bone rather than set off the firing mechanism in the greave. The woman groaned as she tried to hold in the painful scream building in her throat as her elbow shattered from the hit and bent unnaturally forward with a sickening snap.

"Now as you can see, we are prepared to do damage to you in order to get what we want. Either way you're going to help us. The only difference will be how badly it's going to hurt before it's all said and done." Cinder said as she stood from the chair and picked up a hammer from the table.

"Fuck…you…" The woman said through clenched teeth as she looked up at Cinder with rage in her eyes.

"Fair enough." Cinder said before smacking the hammer into the woman's nose, causing blood to spray across the prisoner's face as it broke. "The nastier you get with us, the nastier we will get with you. Just help us out, okay?" Cinder said as she took the woman's chin in her hand.

The prisoner looked Cinder dead in the eyes as tired to control her breathing as blood rolled from her face to Cinder's hand before dripping onto the floor. She smiled before spitting blood into Cinder's face.

"I told you bitch. I would rather die than to ever help people like you. So as I just said. Fuck. You." She said with a pained grin as she knew that no matter what she did, her captives would torture and kill her sooner or later.

Cinder whipped the blood from her face with a frown before motioning for Emerald to join her and Mercury.

"Have it your way. Let's see who gets tired first. Emerald, grab her hand." Cinder replied with an evil grin, waiting for her underling to do as she ordered before she slammed the hammer down onto the prisoner's right thumb three times.

The young woman screamed out in pain as she tried to pull her hand away. With each hit came a crunch as her thumb's bone and knuckle was crushed into dust by the hammer. She stared down at her hand in horror as she gazed at her twisted thumb. Cinder quickly injected her with a syringe before handing her chair to Mercury.

"Sit her in that Mercury." She said as he took the chair and then pulled the woman into it. "Now I'm showing some kindness to you believe it or not. The serum I just injected you with helps slow blood flow down. We wouldn't want you to bleed to death from that nasty wound in your knee now would we?" She said as she pulled another chair up to sit in.

"Nothing you do to me will make me help you. You might as well just kill me now and save yourself the energy." The woman whispered as she fought to not slip into shock.

"Well normally I would agree to that seeing it's painfully obvious we won't get much out of you. But my boss wants you alive for a special mission. So if you just tell us what you know about us, we can get to the easy part." Cinder replied as she put the hammer back on the table and sat in the chair.

"Well I guess that means you're just going to have to rough me up a little bit more, huh? I heard your boss tell you not to kill me. I wonder which would be worse. Ether telling him you lost control and killed me, or telling him you followed orders and still got nothing out of me." She said as she spat some blood out that had managed to find its way into her mouth from her broken nose.

Cinder sighed with frustration as she looked at Emerald who stood by for her order. "Bring me a car battery will you?" Emerald nodded before hurrying off. Cinder then turned her gaze back to her stubborn prisoner. "I guess you and me are going to have a long night, huh?" She asked with a frown.

"Yeah, I guess so." The woman said with a small smirk before spitting out some more blood. "Like you said, let's see who gets tired first."


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait but things have been pretty crazy around here with Summer coming to an end. I hope I didn't scare anyone off with last chapter but it was time (in my eyes at least) to introduce some of our villains in our story. Plus I felt it was time to show how dark this story may go. I hate to post a filler chapter but after last chapter's content I figured it would be good to have a more laid back chapter or two. As always please leave a review or hit the favorite/follow button if you like what you are reading! Enjoy!**

* * *

XVIII

Three days later Roland lay on Blake's bed with Yang slowly riding him. Her long blonde hair clinging to her sweaty body as she moaned heavily while she reached her climax before collapsing next to Roland, allowing Blake to finish him with oral. Afterwards Yang and Blake both pressed their warm, naked bodies against him and smiled at each other before Blake spoke up.

"So. We still have a little while before Weiss and Ruby get back from their lunch date. Tell us what's been bugging you lately. You seem…distant. I mean we didn't really want to bring it up but Jaune talked to us and said you've been worrying him." Blake said with a twitch of an ear as she heard some students going down the hallway.

It had been brought to Team RWBY's attention that Team JNPR had grown concerned for their new teammate recently after his stay in the infirmary. Jaune had told them that Roland would toss and turn in his sleep a lot and even woke them up with screaming. Jaune asked Yang and Blake in secret to try and get some information out of Roland if they could. After being asked by Yang why he couldn't confront him, Jaune admitted that things were still touchy between Nora and Roland so talking as a team wouldn't do just yet.

"It's nothing to be concerned about. I've just been having some weird dreams lately so I haven't had much sleep." Roland said as he glanced at Blake and flashed a reassuring smile at her before gently rubbing one of her ears, much to her excitement. "It's really nothing though. Just between that dream about that nurse and nightmares about my tribe it's…been an eventful few nights." He finally said.

Roland's encounter with Cinder was so blurry that it felt like nothing he could say to himself would enforce any notion that the young woman's attack on him was real. He didn't dare bring it up to his team out of fear of them thinking he had lost his mind. But yet he also couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't a dream. The memories of the attack were so vivid that it seemed impossibly real. As he laid between the two young huntresses in training, Yang tapped playfully at his metal hand to get his attention.

"Did you know you suck at lying? You do this cute face like you're focusing really hard on something." Yang said playfully before kissing his cheek and slipping out of the bed to get dressed. She shifted through the pile of clothes looking for her panties as she continued to speak. "Besides, your team is obviously worried about you. If you won't talk to them then of course you are going to spill the beans with the two most beautiful women in your life." Yang said before turning and winking at her girlfriend, earning a blush from the faunus.

"Really guys, it's nothing." Roland said as he sat up with Blake who gently leaned her forehead against his back and nibbled at his shoulder teasingly.

Yang gave Roland a doubtful look as she tossed Blake her bra and panties before putting on her own bra. "Yeah right. Listen dude, you don't have to act tough all the time. I mean the hand gives you that air enough without you having to play the whole 'nobody can know my problems' role. Are you still pissed off about that chick from Team GRAY shooting you?" Yang said before sliding her uniform on.

 _They are obviously not going to give up unless I tell them something._ Roland thought to himself as he leaned back, his head landing in Blake's lap who looked down at him with a concerned expression. _Fuck. I can't say no to that face. Well it looks like it's time to man up._ He thought before smiling up at the faunus. "Fine. I had a really bizarre dreams while in the infirmary. Hell I've been having weird dreams _since_ the infirmary. I don't know why but each night they get more and more bizarre." He said before sitting up and picking up his boxers to slide on. "The first dream was about this nurse who came in and attacked me. She was surprisingly fast and ended up injecting me with some sort of liquid. I also have been having nightmares about my family."

"He finally tells us something about him besides small talk! You see that Blake? That's the power of some good sex." Yang said with a laugh as she sat down beside her partner. She then looked up at the beautiful tattoo on his back before continuing. "You know…you never told us what your tattoos mean. I mean are you going to withhold that information as well?" She said curiously, gracefully tracing the ink of the flaming nevermore on his back.

Roland had almost forgotten about his promise to explain the meanings for his tattoos to his friends. He looked down at his shirt before sitting back down on the bed beside the two girls. It was obvious that he could no longer hide who he was from the people now in his life. No matter how they would accept his past, he had to tell someone about it.

"My tattoos each mean something different. The runes on my chest and torso are all incantations to the Dust Mother to protect me from harm. Because of my semblance to toughen my body, the runes are a way to tell my goddess that I am using my skills in her honor. The nevermore on my back is my way of telling the Dust Mother that I accept our traditions but wish to make my own fate." Roland said as he clenched his shirt in his hands tightly as he thought about the pain of each tattooing and the legends behind his birth. "My tribe has a legend about the end of this current era. They believe that an armor clad nevermore will swoop down from the sky with a demon of a man on its back and together they will bring death to all that try to fight it. However there are four heroes, all faunus, that are sent by the Dust Mother to fight and kill the two demons. The only issue is that these four heroes are only able to slay the massive bird. The legend states that the demon is sent into an unstoppable rage and strikes the four heroes down." He said before sighing deeply as he thought about the tales he was forced to grow up with.

"What does this legend have to do with you?" Blake said curiously as she finished getting her uniform on. "You're not the man are you?"

Roland closed his eyes before continuing slowly. "I am. The leader of our religion was convinced that I was to be the man on the nevermore. So having a burning one on my back is my way of saying that I will make my own fate. I don't plan on being a part of some world changing doomsday. I rather save it." He said before shaking his head to clear his thoughts of the subject. He looked up briefly as Blake finished getting dressed. "Enough about my depressing life though. Yang, didn't you say there was a gym here? I still don't know the campus fully and I want to get back into properly training so I don't end up getting embarrassed again during sparring." He said as he stood up.

Yang grinned while watching Roland stand as she knew exactly what he needed. "Blake, call Weiss and Ruby and tell them to meet us at the gym. Roland, you want to call your team and tell them to meet us there too? I have an idea as to how to get you ready for a match." She said as she grabbed some clothes to change into at the gym. Blake nodded in agreement with a smile on her face as she reached for her scroll.

"I would call them but I have no idea where they are. They were all gone when I got back from the infirmary this morning." Roland said sort of sadly as he was expecting to spend more time with his teammates.

"Don't worry about them. I know exactly what they are up to. Just give Jaune a call and tell him to meet you at the gym with the rest of your team." Yang said as she playfully punched Roland in the chest before tossing her clothes in a bag and throwing Blake her own bag. "Don't worry about clothes Roland. Jaune has you covered." She said with a wink and a grin.

"Has me…what did they do?" Roland said as he got an idea of where his team was all day.

"Don't worry Roland. Your team has something special planned for you today." Blake said as she placed her scroll into her bag and the three of them walked out of the room.


	19. Chapter 19

**Alright everyone, I know this is a little late but with all the exciting news coming from RTX 2015 this weekend it was hard to find time to finish writing. I wanted to explore Roland's injury a little with this chapter and so brought a new weapon for him into the story. I know I said I dislike filler chapters, but I felt like this was a nice way to set up a possible rivalry between teams GRAY and JNPR while setting up Roland's first actual training exercise with his team and a new weapon. As always, please feel free to review the story so far if you want. Also, if you like what you have read so far then leave a follow or favorite. Thanks and enjoy!**

* * *

XIX

A short time later, both teams RWBY and JNPR met at the gym on campus. Roland leaned against the wall next to the entrance as he watched his team approach him and Team RWBY. As they came closer he noticed that Nora was carrying a large object in her hands that was wrapped in cloth.

"So they found one?" Ruby commented as her team entered the gym, leaving her looking up at Roland. She smiled up at him as he looked down at her confusedly.

"Found one of what?" Roland asked as he pushed off of the wall and started down the stairs with Ruby, who was bouncing excitedly.

As Roland and Ruby met the rest of Team JNPR at the bottom of the steps, Ruby seemed to barely be able to contain her excitement. She squirmed anxiously as Nora slowly walked up to Roland with the large object still in her hands and shoved it into his arms.

"Here, Jaune and Pyrrha decided we should get you this. You better like it too, it took us all damn day to find a good one." Nora said with a scowl before taking a step back to allow Roland to open the cloth.

As Roland pulled the string that held the cloth wrapped around the object he smiled. When the cloth fell away it showed the sheath of a large nagamaki. Roland pulled the rest of the cloth away and slowly pulled the nagamaki from its sheath to expose a beautiful three foot long blade. Roland gripped the two foot long hilt with his metal hand and held the large sword up above him to inspect it before giving it a few slices in the air. He grinned as he slid it back into its decorated sheath.

"It's wonderful but what made you go out and get this for me?" Roland questioned his team as he wrapped the nagamaki back in its cloth and tied the string back.

"Well you said you didn't have your halberd anymore and we felt bad that you weren't in your element while sparring with Amber the other day. So we decided to try and find you a weapon." Jaune said with a grin before proudly crossing his arms.

"We looked everywhere for a polearm but couldn't find one. We figured that you would be more comfortable using a long weapon so we got you the next best thing. Plus I'm sure with your new hand it'd be easier to use a sword rather than a halberd." Pyrrha added with a smile. "And before you ask, don't worry about how much it cost. We all pitched in to get you this. You're our teammate and we got to look out for each other." She said.

"Do you want to try it out inside?" Ruby said with a sparkle in her eyes. It was obvious that her interest in weapons was never going to leave her. "There's a few rooms inside that allow students to spar or run simulations so they can train." She added finally after realizing she was staring at Roland's new weapon.

"What? Oh, yeah sure. That sounds like it could be fun." Roland said as he looked down at Ruby before turning to walk with her and his team into the gym.

As they entered the gym Ruby ran off to join her team so they could train, leaving Team JNPR alone in the lobby. After a few moments Jaune suggested they rent a simulation room to allow the team to train together finally. After changing into their battle uniforms they walked towards their simulation room when a familiar voice rang out to them.

"Well would you look at this. Hey guys!" Came the joyful voice of Amber as she walked around the corner and spotted Team JNPR. As she walked towards them the rest of her team came around the corner also. They were each dressed in armor and had their weapons with them.

Gwyn had a massive claymore strapped to his back while he wore armor resembling that of a knight's. Rose had a pair of strange axes, one on each side, she rested her hands on as she walked. Rose was wearing light armor that looked to be made from a strange alloy with a large tree painted onto her breast plate. Yamabuki wore no armor but instead had on a black and red cloth uniform and had a strange looking pair gauntlets on her wrists. Amber stood proudly as she waited for teammates to join her. She was wearing a light set of armor that was made up of hide with a scaled pattern to it. Her falcata was in its sheath by her side.

"Hello Team GRAY!" Jaune greeted the other team as they approached his team. He positioned himself in between Roland and Amber as he was concerned they might start fighting again. "Are you guys training also?" He asked as he looked each of the students over.

"Yeah we just got done using the simulation room next door." Gwyn said with a sigh as he stretched. All of the members of Team GRAY seemed worn out except for Amber who seemed cheerful and hyper.

"We were actually just about to go into simulation ourselves. If your team isn't busy then feel free to stick around and watch." Jaune said with an inviting smile. "Or if your team is still wanting to train you can join us, maybe get some sparring done between our teams?" He proposed as he looked at the tired team.

Gwyn laughed slightly before answering. "That's a very generous offer Jaune, but I think we had our fair share of training for the day. Although we don't have anything better to do, so we would gladly give you guys an audience from the viewing chamber."

Roland stood by as the two team leaders chatted amongst themselves before noticing Yamabuki's eyes on his new weapon. He glanced at her but before he could address her she quickly spoke.

"Is that your new weapon? I remember you didn't have a weapon of your own when you fought Amber. I figured you would try to train in the use of your arm." Yamabuki said as she eyed the cloth that wrapped around Roland's sword.

Roland smiled as he thought about what she was saying. She was correct that he should train hard in using his new arm, but for now it seemed important to break in what would be his main weapon. He pulled the string on the cloth to allow it to fall away and proudly held out the large sword for Yamabuki to investigate. She took it in her hands and with a small spark in her eyes she pulled the blade from its sheath.

"This is a beautiful nagamaki, Roland." She said with a smile as she looked over the weapon that was nearly as long as she was tall. "What kind of weapon was it you said you used to have though? You don't seem like the type to use a sword much." She said as she placed the sword back in its sheath before handing it back to Roland.

"I grew up training with a halberd. My team wanted to replace it but they said this was the closest thing to a long weapon they could find. Besides, a sword might be easier to use compared to the large clunky polearm I grew up with considering my arm." Roland replied as he held up his metal arm.

"You know what would be fun?" Amber interrupted suddenly as she stepped in between the two teams. "How about we choose a simulation for you guys? That way you are kept on your toes and ready for any situation." She said with an excited grin.

"I don't know Amber, I think that might be kind of too much for us to do to them." Rose replied as she stepped behind her girlfriend. She started to say something else when Nora spoke.

"I think that's a great idea!" She said with a grin of her own. The rest of Team JNPR looked at her in shocked as this was the first time they had seen her smile since coming back from the forest.

Jaune turned to Team GRAY and thought about Amber's proposal quickly. He agreed to the plan, much to Amber's joy, before his team entered the simulation room. As they each took position in the starting area of the room the lights grew dim and a large holographic projection of numbers appeared in front of them. Team GRAY had apparently quickly entered the viewing station and already selected a simulation for them. The numbers ticked down from ten and as Team JNPR waited Jaune turned to them.

"Okay team, remember this is just a simulation. Roland, I want you to do your best as this is only our second time fighting together and your second time fighting with that arm. Everyone do your best, okay? I'm not expecting us to be the perfect team right off the bat so be patient. Synergy will come with training and time. Understood?" Jaune asked his team, getting a nod from each of them after a few moments. "Great. Now let's show Team GRAY what we are got." He said with a confident smile.

As the seconds on the holographic clock ticked down to the last three seconds, Team JNPR turned and awaited their simulated battle. The clock ticked down to one second, and then in large green letters the word "BEGIN" shown in the dim room. The room instantly materialized into a simulated landscape with numerous holographic creatures of Grimm around the room. Team JNPR darted from their starting positions as they began their first training exercise together.


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey everyone! I'm sorry that this chapter has taken so long for me write! I recently took a part time job and college classes have started back. With that being said I might take a little longer than usual to write new chapters. But not to worry! I will not stop writing this story until I reach the end for it. If you wish to see a small, non-spoiling preview of Egle Rising's sequel then under my profile there is another story that is a single chapter and has a brief setting in it that I wish to add in at a later date when I start to write the next story. I bring this up because we are finally reaching where things start to get kind of bad for our dear Roland and I want to make you all aware that his story doesn't end when Egle Rising does. As always please feel free to review and follow if you want to continue reading. Fan messages are also very much welcomed if you don't wish to write a review but want to show some support. Love you all, enjoy!**

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XX

The members of Team GRAY sat in a group of chairs inside the observation room as Team JNPR entered the simulation chamber. Gwen switched on all of the monitors on the wall in front of them and nodded towards Amber. She nodded back and quickly started typing in commands at the simulation console. She smiled as she started to select what the members of Team JNPR would have to do.

"Uh oh, I know that smile. What are you doing?" Asked Rose as she stood from her chair and peaked at the monitor from behind Amber. She slowly shook her head as she saw the level of difficulty that Amber was putting into the simulation. "You still haven't forgiven him, have you?" She said softly before smiling at her girlfriend.

"Hey, I've forgiven him for the most part. I…just want to see their talent as a team. Rumor has it around the school that they lost an original member of their team when they met him. Remember that thing that happened about a year ago in the city? The White Fang attack that made a train crash into the city from the tunnels? Apparently these guys were on site to help clean up the Grimm after all of that happened. These guys are battle tested so it'd be neat to see them actually fight." Amber replied as she finished typing in the commands for the simulation.

"Wow. You're totally having a fan girl moment over these guys. You sparred against Roland, do you think he is as good as them?" Rose asked with a small laugh as she leaned against Amber's shoulder.

"I am not!" Amber said with a growl before continuing. "I just enjoy watching a good fight. Also, I'm not sure about him. He is a skilled fighter, even when using his arm as a sword. However I'm not sure if he makes a good Huntsman. I mean there's a difference between a solider and a Huntsman, you know what I mean?" She said as her tail started to sway with excitement before nodding to Gwen who approached an intercom system built into a desk at the front of the room.

"Alright Jaune, is your team ready?" Gwen spoke into the mic on the desk as he looked up at a monitor. Jaune raised his thump as the team drew their weapons and got into position in the starting area. "Roger that. Starting countdown. Amber, hit it." Gwen said as he sat in his chair and entered the command to put the countdown hologram at the default ten seconds. He looked on as the simulation room turned dark and the seconds started to tick down on the walls.

Amber grinned proudly as she started up the program at the command station. Her tail started wagging faster than usual when she saw the seconds reach five. As she looked on at the team in the simulation room, she tilted her head and turned to the rest of her team.

"Hey guys. Do you see what Roland is doing?" She asked as she pointed to the monitors.

The rest of Team GRAY turned to the camera angels that showed Roland more clearly. They all looked on with confused expressions on their faces. Roland was on one knee with his sword's tip against the ground. His eyes were closed and he silently mumbled as the seconds ticked down more.

"It looks like he is praying. That's odd." Yamabuki replied as she watched the young man's eyes snap open as the timer reached zero and a loud horn sound in the simulation room. The simulation was fully booted and the black room quickly changed to that of a busy street in Vale.

"Huh, never seen someone pray before battle. I guess him being an outsider means he has some weird ass traditions or some shit." Amber said before scratching one of her ears gently. "If he wants to drop his guard enough to pray then I guess the next time I spar with him I won't wait to just shoot him in the face." She said with an evil grin, her tail swaying happily at the thought of fighting Roland again.

"Jeez, you just can't let that go huh? You really don't like him because he pulled your tail? Rose pulls your tail all the time and you don't shoot her." Gwen said from his seat, never taking his eyes off of the monitor in front of him.

"You're damn right I hate that fucker. What kind of asshole pulls a faunus' tail? Besides, have you even looked at Rose? Who would want to be mad at a face like that?" Amber said with a wink to Rose before taking her own seat at one of the monitors.

Inside the simulation room, Roland and the rest of Team JNPR prepared for battle as the dark room turned into a part of the city. They slowly spread out, forming a large perimeter. Jaune looked around carefully as he approached an alleyway.

"Stay alert everyone. There's no telling what we will run into inside here. Nora, do you see anything?" Jaune said as he turned his head to look at Nora, who was about twenty meters away from him.

As Nora turned to answer Jaune, she was violently tackled to the ground by a fully grown creep. The large lizard like Grimm prepared to bite at Nora's back when Pyrrha's spear slammed into it from the side. Pyrrha slid to Nora's side and snatched the spear from the corpse of the creep before quickly switching it to its rifle mode.

"Jaune! We've got creeps!" Pyrrha yelled as no less than twenty creeps came clambering out of an alley near her. She helped Nora to her feet before letting lose some quick shots at the advancing creeps, taking out three of them.

"Creeps? _That's_ what Team GRAY had for us? These guys shouldn't be a problem at all." Jaune said confidently as he ran to help Nora and Pyrrha. As he crossed in front of another alley he noticed movement at the end of it. As he turned to look down the alley he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of another group of creeps charging towards him. "Crap. We have more over here! Roland, come help me clear these out!" Jaune yelled over to Roland as he drew his sword and shield and got ready.

As Roland ran up to Jaune's side he shoved his metal arm into a small pouch strapped to his leg and pulled out a handful of dust and in a moment his arm morphed into a strange tube looking weapon, which he leveled towards the group of Grimm approaching him and Jaune. The end of the tube started to glow an odd blue color and smoke started to rise from the lip of the opening. Roland turned to Jaune briefly and smiled.

"You might want to step back." Roland said as his smile grew into an evil grin. After Jaune took a quick step backwards Roland turned his attention back to the creeps who were now only about twenty yards from the two boys. Within a moment the strange looking tube shot forth a series of blue plasma balls that traveled quickly down the alleyway, instantly catching any creeps they hit on fire. Roland gripped the end of the tube to control the recoil as he mowed down the few remaining creeps. He then shook his arm to force it to go back to its normal mode before drawing his nagamaki and turning to run with Jaune to help the rest of their team. As they started to move towards Pyrrha and Nora, Jaune nodded at Roland's large sword.

As Roland and Jaune made it to where Nora and Pyrrha were, a large creep pushed past them and charged at Roland. As it came closer he stabbed it in the chest with his blade and struggled as it thrashed back and forth to get free from him. As he tried to push the blade further into the creep he heard Jaune yell from behind him.

"Pull and hold the trigger at the top of the hilt! It'll turn on its special function!" Jaune said as he cut down a creep that jumped at Pyrrha from behind.

Roland quickly found the trigger and pulled it, sending out a large arc of electricity that slammed into the creep's chest and made it shake violently before the heat from the electrified blade caused the body to split in half and fall from it.

"Oh, that's fucking awesome." Roland said softly as another creep made it past the other members of his team. He quickly sliced at the creature of Grimm, clicking the trigger once as he swung the blade. As his blade sliced through the air it sent out a large wave of electricity that sliced through the air and cut the Grimm in half. "Holy shit. That's even more awesome!" Roland said excitedly as he killed several more creeps, using his sword's special mode when faced with larger groups of enemies.

As Roland and the rest of his team fought through the ever increasing number of creeps, Roland couldn't help but feel a small bit of rage rise up in him. With every slice or close call with one of the Grimm he grew more and more enraged. The blood thirst he felt got to the point where with every kill he found himself smiling or laughing slightly. With every dead Grimm he saw the faces of his tribesmen and could hear their voices. Soon the rest of Team JNPR stopped fighting and looked on worriedly as Roland cut down dozens of Grimm by himself in mere seconds.

"Gwen! Stop the simulation! Something isn't right about Roland!" Jaune yelled as he started to step towards his teammate worriedly. As he approached Roland the simulation started to fade away and they were left in the empty simulation chamber. Jaune stopped near Roland and put his sword an shield away before reaching his arm out to his friend. "Are you okay, Roland? This isn't like you."

As Jaune reached towards him, Roland spun and swung his sword at Jaune's neck. Before Jaune could react, Pyrrha's shield came up next to his head and stopped the sword just inches from hitting its mark. Pyrrha quickly pushed Jaune to the side and pointed her spear at Roland's chest.

"That's enough! Put your weapon away!" Pyrrha commanded Roland, who just looked at her with a crazed look in his eyes.

After a few tense moments, Roland shook his head to try and snap out of the trance like state he was in. But with every moment that passed his vision started to get more and more blurry before it got to the point where he could barely see. His legs started to shake and a strong sickening feeling came over his body. After a few seconds he dropped his sword and fell to his knees, puking onto the floor as his team came to his side. He blacked out and slipped into a severe seizure after a few moments. Jaune sent Nora for help as he and Pyrrha tried to help Roland.

In the observation booth, Team GRAY looked on in shock of what they just saw. Gwen turned to Rose quickly before issuing an order.

"Get down there, now! Use your semblance if you have to. There's something seriously wrong down there." Gwen commanded as he turned back to the monitor. Amber and Yamabuki quickly joined him, each sitting on either side of him.

"What in the hell is going on down there?" Amber whispered under her breath as she sat down.

"I don't know, but whatever just happened it's not good." Yamabuki answered as Rose slid to Roland's side while Nora returned with Professor Ozpin.


	21. Chapter 21

**Hey everyone! So I know this is a little later than I usually update my chapters, but with my new job and school now in full swing I have been trying to find as much free time as possible to write new chapters. With this chapter we are getting to where Roland is going to be having a much larger role in the fate of Huntsmen and Huntresses. Expect for things to take a pretty awesome turn in the future. As always please feel free to tell me what you think! Love you guys.**

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XXI

Roland slowly opened his eyes and found himself back in his village. It looked exactly like it did the evening he left to go hunting just two days before his village was destroyed. He looked around confused before he started to search the small huts for his friends and family. While the huts looked the same as they did that evening, nobody was to be found. After what felt like hours he finally returned to the center of the village and sat on a small stump to think.

 _Okay, somehow I've found myself back home. But where is everyone? There's no signs of the beowolves or anything living..._ He thought to himself as he tried to collect his thoughts. _Am I dreaming? The last thing I remember is blacking out in the simulation room and hearing the rest of my team around me._ He finally thought as he closed his eyes.

"You came back. You finally came back." Came a raspy voice from behind Roland.

Roland spun around to see the mutilated Head Priestess Vel standing there. Her throat was torn open and blood poured from it onto her robes. As she reached her left arm out to Roland, he noticed that her arm was mauled severely with flesh hanging off of it in patches. She took a step towards him, her right leg giving way as it buckled from the damage done to it. Roland backed away slowly as the figure struggled to approach him.

"Where were you, son? Where were you when your people needed you?" Roland heard as he backed into a figure resembling his father. He turned around and saw that this figure was even more mutilated than Vel. His father's face had been halfway torn off and his abdomen had large bite marks in it with organs exposed in spots.

As Roland backed away from the figures of his father and Vel, he noticed that more and more figures of his dead tribesmen started to morph around him. Each of them held out their hands at him, beckoning him to stay with them. Some were blaming him for their deaths while others cursed him for surviving. He fell to the ground and squeezed his eyes shut as the shades of his tribesmen surrounded him, their voices growing louder by the second. Roland let out a frustrated scream as they closed in on him.

"I'm sorry! I'm fucking sorry! It's not my fault! I swear to the Dust Mother herself that I would have died protecting all of you!" He yelled as the voices stopped. As he opened his eyes he found himself alone except for one figure that still stood before him. This figure was that of his mother. She looked down at her son and finally knelt down in front of him.

"No son, this isn't your fault. The Huntsmen and Huntresses, they did this to us. Just as I lost my team many years ago, you have lost your entire way of life. You will lose everything you hold dear to you if you continue to help these people." She said softly as she took her son's hand in her own.

"Mother, what am I to do? These people are so kind to me and I've made friends out of them. It is against the way of our people to abandon friends, especially those that take up the blade alongside you." Roland questioned the figure as he felt the warmth of his mother's hand in his.

"Fear not son. There will be a time and a place for you to make your own fate. Be wary of those that would call you their friends but would betray you when times get tough. The life of a Huntsman is one of strife, death, and regret. If you pursue this life then you may find yourself standing alone in front of the graves of your team. But if you help those that are against these glorified mercenaries, you may see a brighter future arise." The shade replied slowly, its warmth fading from its hand as the color in its skin faded to a deep blue.

Roland thought about what the figure was saying for a moment before realizing that the figure was starting to decay in front of him. Much to his horror, his mother's hand became freezing and her face started to morph into that of a skull. He fought to get his hand from hers but was unable to break free from it. Finally, Roland started to punch her arm with his metal fist until he heard the sound of the bones snap. This allowed him to wiggle his hand free of hers and as he fell back he felt the back of his head come to a rest on legs of yet another figure. As Roland looked up he found himself looking into the eyes of Professor Ozpin. The professor stared down at him and smiled an evil grin as the now deformed figure of Roland's mother came closer to him.

"Don't trust the Huntsmen, Roland. Kill the Huntsmen and all who look to them for guidance." The shade hissed as her hands came up to his throat and started to squeeze.

Roland shut his eyes tightly as he felt his throat start to collapse under the pressure of the figure's grip. However, right as he felt himself grow close to passing out he heard a familiar voice ring out to him from somewhere else.

"Mr. Egle. Mr. Egle, wake up. Wake up!" Came the voice before he felt a sharp slap across his face. Roland snapped his eyes open to find himself handcuffed to a bed in the infirmary again. He quickly looked around the room before noticing that the nurse from before was standing next to his bed, handcuff keys in hand.

"What happened? Why am I chained to this bed? Why are you here again?" Roland asked quickly as he struggled to move away from the nurse that he hazily remembered attacking him.

"Now Roland, is that anyway to react to seeing the only true friend you have in this world?" Cinder replied with a smile as she unlocked his handcuff and sat in the chair next to the bed. "How did you dream? It looked as if you were seeing some things you didn't really enjoy." She continued as she crossed her legs and sat back into the chair.

Roland sat up in the bed, rubbing his back with his metal hand. "How long have I been asleep?" He asked as he sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Cinder. Cinder wasn't dressed as a nurse this time. She was in a black uniform that looked like it belonged to a military unit of some sort.

"Oh, about the usual stay for you. You've been asleep for three days, Roland. I'd say it's about time you stopped being sent here every time you leave the dorm, wouldn't you?" Cinder said with a smug grin as she pulled out a nail file and started to groom her nails.

"What happened to me? The last thing I remember was fighting in the simulation room and then I blacked out." Roland said as he stretched before standing to change into his clothes. "You're not a nurse, are you? Why are you here?" He asked as he started to change.

"I was wondering when you would ask the real questions. In fact, I'm shocked you didn't attack me as soon as you saw me." Cinder replied, the smug expression still on her face.

"I remember the last time we got in a confrontation. I rather find out the truth about you without being drugged." Roland said as put on an undershirt before picking up his uniform's shirt.

Cinder reached into her pocket and pulled out a small syringe as Roland spoke. She stood up and approached him with it in her hand, placing her free hand on his bare chest before speaking.

"Speaking of drugging you. I hate to ask this of you but I need you to take the shot again. In fact, if you want answers then I'm going to need you to do what I ask." Cinder said before giving him a sensual smile and pulling the top off of the syringe. Roland quickly grabbed her hand with his metal hand.

"What is it? Is this why I've been having those dreams and blacked out?" Roland asked seriously, being sure to put only enough pressure on her wrist to assure her that he was serious.

"This, my dear Roland, is the future of mankind. As I am sure you have learned in classes, every creature with a soul has an aura and many are able to project their auras outward for protection. However, there are a few rare cases where a human is born without an aura. These people are starting to be born more rapidly than ever before and many are starting to fear what this could mean for humanity as a whole. In fact, some more ignorant people are starting to attack those without auras and treat them worse than even the faunus are being treated." Cinder replied, quickly getting to the point of why she has been targeting Roland.

"So you know my people are born without auras, correct? What, is that drug supposed to give me one?" Roland asked as he loosened his grip on her wrist slightly.

"Yes, we have been watching your tribe and many like it for some time now. At first we thought it was just a fluke that made people like you 'freaks of nature' so to say. Scientists and governments have grown keen to calling people and faunus like you 'barrens'. But after several years of closely monitoring your kind we have found that people like you have a very strange DNA mutation in them. One not so different than the faunus your tribe worshiped." Cinder spoke smoothly as she looked into Roland's eyes, never once daring to break eye contact with the man who could easily snap her wrist like a twig.

"DNA mutation? Look you got to slow down a little, lady." Roland said as he shook his head in confusion. "What does this all mean? Who is 'we'? What do you want with me, and why is that syringe in your hand?" He finally asked after a few moments.

"Yes, DNA mutation. It has been long thought that faunus are a new branch in human evolution. This of course led to the severe persecution and enslavement of them. Now there are humans being born without auras and thus don't have semblances. But then we find your tribe, the Dust Eaters. Your people have found a way to enhance people with a semblance they were not born with by infusing dust into their very bodies. The people I represent have thus found a way to infuse the human body to create a manmade aura. Granted, as you and a few others have shown, this can lead to severe reactions." Cinder said as she wiggled her wrist as she grew impatient at having to discuss so much with the young man.

"Okay…that actually gave me more questions than answers. But you still haven't told me what your people want with me or who your people even are." Roland said as he loosened his grip on her wrist so she could slide her hand out of his.

"I am an operative for a highly secret military unit, if you must know. And we want you to be an agent for us. There are many that feel that the Huntsmen and Huntresses have failed the people of the world and want to see them taken down a few notches. That is why we have selected you, Roland. You are an outsider if you like it or not. As a warrior you have seen what a strong backbone and a will to survive has brought those without the so called protection of Huntsmen or Huntresses. I'm sure you haven't be able to tell because you are still young and know little about the way things really work behind the scenes, but the life you are training to lead is not what it seems. Men like Professor Ozpin are not what they seem, Roland. If you work alongside me then I promise you answers. But right now I have ran out of time to just sit here and talk ideally with you. Allow me to give you this injection so your body can become used to the serum. As long as you continue to have this serum then the dreams and seizures will vanish." Cinder said as she rubbed her wrist. She quickly began nervous as she realized how long she had been talking with Roland. She needed to give him the shot and get out quickly before her cover would be blown.

"What exactly is that serum? What does it do?" Roland questioned her after a few seconds of thought.

"It's the future of mankind, Roland. Imagine people and faunus of all kind being able to have stronger auras than ever before. Imagine having a semblance so powerful that you could destroy a hundred Grimm with your bare hands. That is what this serum can bring you. We are using barrens as an experiment to show that it can even help even those without auras protect themselves and fight. I promise we will talk again soon, just trust me. You have to take this shot and I have to get out of here." She said quickly as she offered Roland the serum.

Roland looked at the syringe cautiously as he thought about everything the strange woman before him had said. He hesitated but then finally took the syringe and put it against his arm before looking up at Cinder. She smiled slightly as he injected the serum into his arm, the liquid burning slightly as it entered his blood stream. He didn't feel anything like he did last time as he pulled the syringe out of his arm and handed it back to the woman.

"Good, it looks like your body has already taken to the serum. You shouldn't feel any drowsiness this time and the dreams will start to go away in a few days. Thank you Roland. And as promised, we will be in touch with you shortly to discuss these matters in greater detail and to talk about what we need you to do in return." Cinder said with a sly grin before moving towards the window and opening it.

"How will you get in touch with me?" Roland asked as he watched her leap up onto the windowsill before she turned back to face him.

"Don't worry about that, we have our ways." She said with a wink before stepping out of the window and onto the grass below her. She then dashed out of sight before Roland could even reach the window to look after her.

As Cinder ran along she quickly got in contact with her commander. Shortly after making contact with him she came to a stop behind a building and crotched low as she spoke into her headset.

"Did you recruit him?" The commander asked impatiently after a short explanation as to why she was late making her call to him.

"Yes sir, I am confident that he will be a good asset in our coming operation." Cinder replied calmly.

"Good job Lieutenant. Stay low for a few days, we'll be moving to the new phase in our operation shortly." The commander said happily before ending the connection with Cinder.


	22. Chapter 22

**Hey everyone! I know this is really late of me to finally give you guys a new chapter for this story. I've been really really busy with school and work so it's hard sometimes to be able to just crank out a chapter like I used to. Also, because I'm now writing a second story it provides me some time to space out the chapters. With this chapter we finally meet the real villain of our story. I hope you all enjoy it and as always feel free to review it and follow/favorite the story or me. Enjoy!**

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XXII

 **FOUR MONTHS LATER**

Roland stood with his bare back against the wall of the shower as the warm water from the faucet gently hit his face. It had been four long months since he had agreed to help Cinder. Since then he had done everything from give her simple reports on his training to bring her stolen documents from the school's offices. He had slowly started to betray his comrades more and more for the one substance in the world that could make him stronger than he already was.

He had never thought about why his tribe did the strange rituals that they did. He never thought about why they infused dust into their own bodies. He had always assumed it was just part of their religion. But ever since he had started to work for Cinder, he had learned that his people went to extreme measures to provide their warriors with something that his entire tribe was born without. To think that only four months prior he had found out that he was a member of a third race of humanity. Roland Egle, and possibly his sister as well, was a barren.

Over the past four months Roland had learned that barrens were a fairly new race in which someone could be born without any trace of aura in their body, but yet they were not Grimm. It had always been taught to students that the Grimm were the ultimate manifestation of evil. A life force without an aura, and thus without a soul. They had always been taught that all living beings had an aura and with training you could unleash it as an outward projection as semblance or as a shield. However with barrens this was far from true. A barren was "soulless" but was not a Grimm. Those that knew about his kind's existence either greatly feared them or wanted to know more about them. It seemed that Cinder and her people wanted to find out more about his kind while working to make them more attractive to other people. But if how the faunus have been treated throughout history shows anything, it's that man is far from loving when it comes to finding something different than him.

 _Why does it fucking matter if I have an aura or not? I'm just as good of a fighter as everyone else here. I can kill Grimm just as easily if not easier than anyone here._ Roland thought to himself angrily as he shook his head at the thought of how humanity would treat barrens if their existence became common knowledge. To get the thought off of his mind he looked down at his human arm at the needle marks. Over the past four months he had done many things to get more of the serum that could make him normal, but with each injection it seemed it wore off quicker.

The withdraw effects from the serum had become less severe but at the same time Roland grew more and more aggressive. He would often find himself now days getting angry over very small things. He had even once yelled at Pyrrha for playfully throwing a sock at him. Although this did concern him, he had been promised by Cinder that those effects wouldn't last long. Cinder had also promised that with him helping her people that his sister would be safe and receive a better future than that of being a Huntress.

 _Nina. I haven't spoken to you in so long because I've been busy with life here._ He thought to himself as he clinched his metal fist before shutting off the shower's water. He quickly dried off and exited the shower room and entered his dorm room where the rest of his team was sitting.

"Oh, Roland. We were just talking about going out for some lunch together. Would you like to join us?" Jaune said nervously as Roland slowly walked to his bed.

Roland silently slid on his clothes as he felt the gaze of his teammates on him while they waited for an answer. He sighed deeply to remain level headed as he picked up his scroll and noticed he had a message from Cinder.

 _Warehouse District. Warehouse number eight. One hour. Time for you to meet the boss. Message will encrypt one minute after opening._

"I think I'll pass." Roland said with a stiff voice as he slid the scroll into his pocket and grabbed his jacket before walking towards the door. "I have plans." He said as he hesitated in the doorway before finally leaving.

"So, that went well." Nora said after the room remained silent for a few seconds after Roland left. "When are we just going to approach him about his shitty attitude? He's our teammate and ever since his seizure he has acted like such an asshole." She said before flopping onto her bed.

"Maybe he just needs some time. What if the doctors told him some bad news?" Pyrrha replied with concern in her voice.

"Come on, Pyrrha. It's been four months. Four. Don't you think if there was something going on than we would know about it by now?" Jaune said as he slide his jacket on. "He said he had plans, we can try to do something with him when he comes back. He can handle himself, I'm sure."

Pyrrha looked at Jaune as he sat at his desk to wait for the rest of the team to get ready. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he was concerned for Roland. Ever since the day of Roland's seizure, Jaune had seemed to be uneasy around him.

"Do you trust him still?" She asked Jaune after a few minutes of awkward silence. "He did attack you."

"He's our teammate. We have no choice but to trust him." Jaune said with a sigh as he and his team left their room for lunch.

About thirty minutes later Roland sat in silence as he looked out the window of a bus, lost in thought about the message Cinder had sent him. Deep down he knew that the moment he took that syringe from Cinder that he was betraying his friends. A part of him felt regret knowing that he so easily turned his back on the people that saved his sister and his lives. But yet as the bus he was on came to a stop near the meeting location, he felt almost like there was an unseen force moving him to his new comrades.

Roland exited the bus once it came to a stop and slowly walked towards the warehouse he was supposed to meet Cinder in. As he got closer he could feel a tinge of anticipation as he thought about meeting the person that commanded the strange woman he had been taking orders from for the past four months. As Roland approached the warehouse he noticed that a small door at the front of the building creaked open. He quickly ran into the building and spun around as the door slammed behind him.

"Don't worry about the door. We control when and if it opens." Came the calm voice of Cinder as Roland turned around to see her walk into the large room he was in.

"Okay. Well, I'm here. What do you need?" Roland questioned her quickly as he walked towards her.

"Proof of loyalty." She replied with a serious tone as she stepped aside and motioned that Roland enter the room she had just exited.

Roland nodded before walking past Cinder and into the room and gasped at what he saw. Chained to the wall was a half dead woman in rags. Dried blood was caked all over her body from cuts, burns, and bruises from what was obviously very serious torture. The woman struggled to look up at Roland and she squirmed at the sight of him, trying desperately to move closer to the wall from him. Roland turned his gaze away from the woman as Cinder approached him.

"Don't look away. He's watching you." Cinder said before pointing to a window located at the far side of the room where a dark figure was sitting behind it, watching Roland's every move.

"Is that?" Roland asked as he glanced over to the figure.

"Yes. That is the man who pulls the strings behind everything I've had you do. It's time to show him how serious you really are." Cinder replied before walking behind the woman.

"What am I supposed to do to prove my loyalty?" Roland asked as he looked down at the woman.

"Isn't it obvious? You will kill this huntress." She replied as she kicked the woman roughly in the back.

"Huntress? This woman's a huntress?" Roland asked with concern before taking a step back.

"Yes. And you will kill her. We have gotten all the information we need out of this bitch, so you are to put an end to her suffering." Cinder replied with a small grin.

After a few moments of silence Roland responded cautiously.

"What if I don't do it?" He asked with a serious glance towards the dark figure.

"Then we will either kill you both, or we will let the huntsmen deal with you after we torture you so badly that you'd be unable to tell them anything about us." Cinder said without hesitation.

"Turn me over to the huntsmen? What do you mean?" Roland asked with concern.

"Do you know what the huntsmen do to traitors, Roland? You cannot go back, ever. You are either with us or you are as good as dead. Just ask our friend here." She replied before slapping the woman in the back of the head.

The woman shuttered and whimpered at the strike before struggling to look up at Roland. She slowly nodded in agreement before attempting to speak.

"K-kill me. We're both dead anyways. Don't…let Ozpin…find out. You can't escape…t-the wrath of a huntsmen." She groaned before dropping her head down and wincing in pain at her wounds.

Cinder walked up to Roland before sliding a valve of dust powder into his metallic hand and leaving the room to sit behind the window with the dark figure. Roland stood in silence for several minutes looking at the woman and the valve. He slowly knelt in front of the broken woman before looking into her swollen eyes.

"I'm sorry. I never thought I'd be doing this kind of thing when I agreed to help them." Roland apologized sadly.

"It's not me you should feel sorry for. Feel sorry for yourself and your team. You have sold your soul and abandoned your family for people as evil as Grimm itself. I pray that you are haunted by this moment for the rest of your days." The woman stated with every ounce of strength left within her.

Roland frowned at this as he felt anger boil up inside him. He quickly smashed the glass bottle and morphed his hand into a blade. He slowly pressed the blade directly into the woman's throat. She gurgled and gasped as his blade slowly entered her throat, blood gushing out of the wound and onto the floor. Her eyes grew from defiance into fear and regret as she bleed out onto the floor. She fought to breath as her blood poured from her throat, gurgling and gagging on the blood. After several seconds she stopped struggling and allowed the blood to spill completely from her body. Roland yanked his bladed hand from her neck and pushed the woman's lifeless body over before standing and morphing his hand back to normal. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that the figure behind the window had entered the room and was approaching him with Cinder. The man reached him and extended his arm with confidence.

"Well done son. I never doubted you a second. As of today you will be under my direct command and all of my orders to you will be relayed to you from Cinder." The man said as Roland hesitated before taking his hand and shaking it.

"Yes sir. I have to ask though, who are you?" Roland asked after shaking the man's hand.

"Oh me? My name is General James Ironwood. I am the commander of Atlas' military and now your best friend in the world. Welcome aboard, Roland." Ironwood said with a smile.


	23. Chapter 23

**Okay everyone. It's getting close to the end for Egle Rising. This is one of the last chapters for this part of Roland's story. I hope you guys are excited for the big climax as much as I am! Let me know what you all think by either messaging me or writing a review. And as always I hope you all enjoy!**

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XXIII

Roland sat in a chair across from General Ironwood as the man talked to him about their plans.

"For many years the Huntsmen have been a very useful class of warriors for hire. But lately there are many, especially in Atlas, who view them to be more of a hindering force rather than a helpful one. Last year there was a tragic incident in which a train broke open a tunnel and let hundreds of Grimm into Vale. The Huntsmen from Beacon fought back the Grimm the best they could until my forces swooped in and saved the day." Ironwood said proudly as he leaned back in his own chair.

"Some of the students at Beacon told me about that. Wasn't the White Fang behind that attack?" Roland replied as he remembered Yang telling him about how her team tried to stop the terrorist attack.

"Well, that's what the media would have you believe. The White Fang is nothing more than my puppet. They are a made up terror group that does as I command in order to get our goals fulfilled. In fact, my top operative in the White Fang should be arriving shortly to discuss our end game plan for this long running operation." Ironwood responded with a smirk.

"Top operative? You're too kind, sir." Came a voice from the shadows as a man entered the room from behind Ironwood.

The man was an athletic looking bull faunus wearing a black jacket and a Grimm mask. He confidently strode into the room and pulled up a chair next to Ironwood before sitting in it.

"Speak of the devil himself. Hello Adam. We were just talking about you. How are things going on your side?" Ironwood said with a laugh as the faunus sat next to him.

"It goes well, sir. Everything is in place for your orders. Just give the word." Adam replied.

"Good. We need the next few days to go smoothly if we want the past few years to be worth everything we have done." Ironwood said, smiling again.

Roland looked on as the two talked, confused about everything that he had just learned. The White Fang was an organization headed by the Atlas military the entire time. He thought about how people like Blake had given so much of their lives to a cause they thought was right, just to be patsies for a bigger cause they had no knowledge about. He shook his head at the thought of faunus fighting for equal treatment just to be really fighting for Atlas.

"Something bothering you Roland?" Cinder said as she snuck up behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"It's just a lot to take in. The White Fang is really a part of Atals? Why?" He said nervously.

"The faunus are a misguided race that has been severely mistreated for centuries. The best way to cause civil unrest and lay the seeds for change is to embrace the already unstable conditions in an area. That is why we use my people's fear, hate, and grief to promote our own goals." Adam said seriously before running a gloved hand through his hair.

"It will all make more sense when the time comes, Roland. Until then I need you to be patient and do as we say." Ironwood added before motioning Cinder to bring him something.

Roland turned to watch Cinder as she walked over to a filing cabinet and opened it to pull out a file from it. As she walked back to the three men she grabbed a bottle of liquor and some glasses from a shelf and placed them on the table between them. She then pulled up her own chair and sat with the men, pouring the drink into the glasses.

Ironwood took the file from Cinder and thumbed through it, placing pictures and reports on the table next to the glasses. Roland looked on before realizing that most of the reports were documents that he had personally stolen from Ozpin's office.

"The plan is as follows. Adam will take his faunus and attack Beacon at night after I give the order to move. Ozpin will no doubt try to escape by having his students fight off the attack with Glynda. That's where you come in Roland. You are to sneak away from the battle and find Ozpin. You are to capture him and prepare him for extraction. I know this may be a hard pill to swallow, but be prepared to treat all students as hostiles. That means you are to show no mercy. These kids are trained to kill and when backed into a corner I expect they will fight to the death. Kill anyone who gets between us and Ozpin." Ironwood said before going over the finer details of the attack.

"Excuse me, sir. But you never explained why Ozpin has to be captured. He saved both mine and my sister's lives." Roland said after waiting for a break in conversation.

Ironwood thumbed through some more of the folder and offered several pieces of paper to Roland with a grim expression.

"I think these manuscripts will answer that question for me." The general said without emotion.

Roland glanced over the papers and instantly felt grief and rage fill him. The papers were what seemed to a bugged conversation between Ozpin and someone named Qrow regarding Roland's village.

 **Qrow:** _What are we to do about the boy's village? Team CFVY gave the head of the village their word that they would send another team to repay the hospitality he showed them._

 **Ozpin:** _The massive pack of beowolves to the north of the village will be on the village before we even get another team as experienced as CFVY out there. The boy most likely will die with the rest of his village._

 **Qrow:** _And if he doesn't? Are we supposed to just leave him there? Alone? And after so much his father did for your students? We need to send at least two teams there now in order to get as many of those villagers out alive._

 **Ozpin:** _And risk the lives of my students? I'm sorry old friend but I can't do that. We have to wait a few more days before making a choice. If we act now then we very well might be sending a team of children to their death._

 **Qrow:** _This wouldn't have been the first time we lost students in the field, Ozpin. These children are the future. Many of them have already shown they are willing to lay down their lives for what is the right thing._

 **Ozpin:** _And who would you have me send? You want Ruby and Yang to take on what is reported to be a thousand beowolves? They barely made it out of that train tunnel with one of my best instructors helping them! If it wasn't for James and his men…_

 **Qrow:** _Are you really going to bring Ironwood into this? The man is a snake. He has been playing us for over a year and you still praise him? He is after your head! If we let an entire village be massacred we will be in trouble. But if we let an entire village of barrens be massacred? There would be nothing left standing in Atlas' way. They will finally have the push they need to destroy huntsmen!_

 **Ozpin:** _Fine. I will see what teams are away on missions and send them in. But if we lose any students on a doomed rescue mission._

 **Qrow:** _Yes, yes. I'll take the blowback from the council. Just try to remember that we are on the brink of war. We can't afford to give James any reason to take control._

Roland stared at the manuscript in silence as he felt his rage build steadily. His metal arm ached with phantom pain as he thought about the battle the day Team JNPR found him.

"Are you telling me that Professor Ozpin could have sent someone sooner? He could have sent more people? My family and friends died because he was scared to make a decision?" Roland said angrily as he crumbled the documents in his hands, his voice growing louder with each word.

"I know it's difficult to think about. But yes, Ozpin knew about the large pack of beowolves that was heading towards your village. He let your family die because he made the wrong choice. There are many documents just like that one that show how far gone my old friend is. It pains me to say it but the choices he has made over the past couple years has forced Atlas to make a move. The way of the huntsmen is a relic from a bygone era. The military and government can now handle Grimm and crime better than the huntsmen ever could. That is why we need you to help us overthrow him. He is the key to changing how people look at huntsmen. He sits in his office and allows the world to pass by him. My academy in Atlas has already started to train its students as soldiers rather than purely huntsmen or huntresses. We need a unified power to band together and show the world that we can win. Humans, faunus, and barrens. We need to be unified." Ironwood said proudly as he stood and drank from his glass.

"Fine. I'll help you. As long as Ozpin is held accountable for his actions." Roland said with a sly smile as he listened to the general's words.

"That a boy! Now, we are scheduled to make our move…." Ironwood started before he was interrupted by his scroll ringing. He held up a finger before answering it, keeping it on speaker. "Ah yes, Mercury. I was just going over the plan for the assault on Beacon. Where are you and Emerald?" He asked into the scroll.

"Sorry sir, I know I shouldn't be calling right now but this is urgent. We were checking on the reports of a Bullhead VTOL crashing outside of the city. It appears it crashed due to a severe storm moving into the city's surrounding area. While sifting through the wreck we came across a team of students from Beacon." The voice of Mercury came across the scroll frantically.

Ironwood looked at Roland with concern on his face as he took the call off of speaker and walked to the far side of the room to talk. As Roland sat in his seat and thought about what Mercury had said, his scroll started to buzz as he got messages on it. He quickly opened the scroll to see that Jaune had messaged him. Roland opened the message and his heart sunk as he read the message.

 _Hurry back to campus. Professor Ozpin is calling for an emergency assembly within the next hour. There are rumors going around the campus of Team CRDL being involved in a VTOL accident. We will try to wait at the dorm until you come back. –Jaune._

Roland looked over at Ironwood who had finished his call and was now returning to the table. He stopped briefly to whisper something to Cinder who exited to the next room. The old general then sat back down at the table and folded his hands tightly.

"There's a change of plans. We're making our move tonight. Adam, contact your White Fang squads and have them meet at the base of the cliff near Beacon. Roland, Cinder is going to give you a package. You no must have heard from some of your fellow students by now that there is going to be an emergency assembly back at campus. You are to take this package and leave it at the back of the room and immediately exit the building. Once you have done this you are then to meet Adam and his White Fang at the edge of the cliff and wait for the signal." Ironwood said quickly as Cinder came back into the room with a suitcase. He stood and grabbed it from Cinder before handing it to Roland.

"Okay…but I got to ask. What's in this?" Roland said nervously as the heavy suitcase was handed to him by the general.

"What do you think, boy?" Adam responded sternly as he stood and started to leave the room. "Don't fuck this up newbie. This is years of planning in the works." He said before finally leaving.

Roland looked down at the suitcase as he realized what was inside it. He almost dropped it out of fear.

"Whoa now. Trust me kid, you don't want to drop that. I know it's a lot to ask of you for your first official mission with us. But you need to understand that we have no more options. Mercury capturing those students is very bad not just for Ozpin but for us." Ironwood said as he caught the suitcase before it dropped too far.

"What do you mean?" Roland questioned.

"Ozpin has been awaiting his chance just like we have. He no doubtingly will all but declare war on us at that assembly. It is one thing to take out a huntsman here or there that gets in the way. But to endanger his students? He won't take that well. Just remember to get that inside that room and get the hell out. We will take care of the rest." The general responded as he showed Roland the door.

A short time later Roland nervously walked across campus to where he saw his team standing. They waved him on as they ran into the building in which the assembly would take place. The setting sun cast dark shadows on the building as the sky grew dark with storm clouds. He walked into the large room and looked around to make sure nobody was watching before he placed the suitcase under a wooden table and rushed back outside of the building. As he did so, Ozpin approached the stage to begin the assembly.

"Students. Today most of you have already heard about Team CRDL going missing after their VTOL crashed due to a severe storm. I am sad to say that it appears none survived." Ozpin lied as he looked into the grief stricken faces of his students. "Now I know that this is hard to accept due to the tragic incident that lead to the death of Ren earlier this year. But I hope you all understand the dangers that we face as huntsmen and huntresses. As of now the campus will be in lockdown until the storm system passes in the morning. All students are to remain in their rooms unless told otherwise." He continued sternly after a few moments.

Meanwhile outside, Roland ran his hardest to the cliff where he saw Adam duck behind a building. He slid to a halt next to the faunus and took a moment to catch his breath.

"Is it in place?" Adam questioned him as he helped him up, pulling him around the corner so that nobody could see him.

"Y-yes." Roland responded as he gasped for air, his heart almost leaping out of his chest as he thought about what he had just done.

"Good." Adam said with an evil grin as he nodded to the edge of the cliff where his White Fang were climbing over the edge.

There must have been two hundred faunus in the group. Each of the held weapons of all types. Some with rocket launchers, others with rifles, and still others with simple pistols. They snuck over to the cover of the building where Adam and Roland hid, preparing for the battle to come. Among the group was four Beacon students who had rags tided around their mouths and their hands bound. They were dragged along and presented to Adam. Adam nodded and pulled his scroll out of his pocket and thumbed through the menu.

"You might want to cover your ears, boy." He said with a small laugh.

Back in the assembly, Ozpin continued to talk to the scared students who had just been lied to about the deaths of their classmates.

"A memorial service will be held for Team CRDL tomorrow once the storm has passed. They will receive a grave next to Ren's when the time is right. Until then we need to…" Ozpin started.

Ozpin never got to finish the sentence. For as he was talking a massive explosion tore through the assembly, vaporizing the students who stood closest to the suitcase. Others that were further inside the room had limbs ripped from their bodies from the force of the blast. And still others were crushed by falling debris as the room behind them erupted with the force of hell itself.

Outside, Roland stumbled backwards as he watched the building's front sections blow outwards as if it was made of toothpicks. The ground around him shook as the blast kicked up dirt in all directions. Adam stood without being phased by it and let out an evil laugh.

"Alright kid. Time to show Uncle Adam how much of a man you are. White Fang, time to get to work!" Adam said excitedly.

And with that, the battle for Beacon Academy began.


	24. Finale

**All right ladies and gentlemen! This is it! This is the final chapter for Egle Rising. I would like to thank all of you who have followed this story. You all mean so much to me. This chapter is very long compared to all my other ones due to the content in it. Please enjoy it and let me know how you feel about it. I love all of you.**

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XXIV

 **Hellfire**

Alarms screamed out as the dust inside the assembly building started to clear. The lifeless, torn bodies of several students laid everywhere. Body parts, blood, and gore littered the ground around those that survived the blast. Yang shook her head as she struggled to her feet, her ears ringing from the explosion. Cuts she received from shrapnel stung but didn't seem to be life threatening. Her eyes burned blood red as she took in her surroundings. After a few moments she recovered from the force of the blast and saw that Weiss laid under a large chunk of ceiling that had fallen onto her. She hurried to Weiss' side and struggled to move the debris.

"Are you okay? Don't move, I'll get you out." Yang said with a trembling voice as the screams of the wounded and dying filled her still ringing ears. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the debris to budge.

"I…I can't feel my legs, Yang." Weiss said with panic filling her voice. She looked on in horror as students around her screamed out in pain and shock.

"Don't look at them. Just keep your eyes up at me. I'm trying to move this. Fucking hell, this thing ways a ton!" Yang replied as her body started to burn as it heated up from the rage filling her. As she struggled with the debris Gwen stumbled over to them. One of his horns was broken and blood covered the side of his face and head but he was more or less undamaged.

"Here, let me move it." He said as he grabbed hold of the debris and let out a deep grunt before slowly lifting it off of Weiss.

He kicked his semblance into overdrive and managed to lift it a few feet over the girl to allow Yang to drag her out from underneath it. Weiss let out a sharp scream as Yang moved her. Once Weiss was clear of the debris Gwen let it drop down and knelt down to examine Weiss' injuries. As he did this, Rose ran to his side.

"What do you see, Rose?" Gwen questioned his teammate who had burns and cuts on her body.

"Her legs are shattered and her spine is most likely broken. I can do what I can but without proper medical treatment she most likely will never walk again." Rose said sadly as she examined Weiss.

"What? Don't fucking say that! Weiss you're going to be okay. You just got a little beat up, nothing major." Yang replied worriedly as she tried to move her.

"Stop! Don't move her, Yang. Rose's semblance is healing. She knows injuries better than most doctors. The last thing we need to do is move Weiss." Gwen said as he grabbed Yang's arm. "Find the rest of your team. After you do that then see if you can do anything for the others that are injured. Leave Weiss to Rose. Rose, you good?" He said, looking back to his teammate.

Rose gave Gwen a shaky thumbs up as she placed her other hand on Weiss' cuts from the debris. Her hand started to glow a green hue as she started to use her semblance to heal the wounds she could. Yang nodded as she regained her composer and rushed off to find Blake and Ruby. Gwen stood slowly and looked around the room before finding Jaune and Nora who were kneeling next to a seated Pyrrha. Gwen rushed to their side, kneeling beside Jaune who gave him a worried look.

"There's something wrong with Pyrrha. She's not responding to us." Jaune said, his voice cracking from fear.

Gwen looked Pyrrha over quickly. There was blood coming from both of her ears and a large cut across her right cheek. Her uniform was tattered and had burn marks on her sleeves. Gwen looked down one of her ears and shook his head.

"Her eardrums have ruptured, Jaune. The shockwave and sound of the blast must have caused it. I don't know if there is anything we can do right now to save her hearing. What the hell happened? Why was there an explosion?" Gwen replied with anger filling his voice. The adrenaline pumping in his veins made him almost forget about his own injuries as he tried to gather his senses.

"I don't know. It just happened so suddenly. Nora, have you seen Roland? I hope he is okay." Jaune said worriedly as he looked up at his teammate.

"Haven't seen him. I don't even know if he was inside the building before the explosion." Nora said as she looked around to see if she could find any trace of Roland.

Meanwhile across the room, Yang slid to Ruby and Blake's side as she found them. Her girlfriend and sister were clearly shaken up from the blast but didn't have any serious injuries. She explained what happened to Weiss before turning to Ruby.

"Ruby, we need to get an assessment on the injuries of the other students. We have to get those that can be moved out of this building so we can give those helping the more seriously injured students more room." Yang said quickly as she helped her teammates to their feet.

"You're right. Everyone needs to gather their senses so we can figure out what happened." Ruby started before being interrupted by the distant voice of someone on a loudspeaker.

"Students of Beacon Academy. If anyone survived the blast then come out and surrender now!" Came the voice. "You are not the ones we want. Deliver us Professor Ozpin and I can assure all of you that you won't be harmed further!" It continued.

"Wait. I know that voice." Blake said as her cat ears twitched. She quickly ran to one of the blown out windows and looked outside. "What the hell? That's Adam. He's standing with Roland! What is Roland doing with him?" She said in horror as she looked at her once mentor and her friend across the courtyard.

Ruby, Yang, and a few other students joined her at the window to take in the sight of what was going on outside.

"That's Team CRDL! They're alive? But Ozpin said they died in the crash." One student yelled out in shock.

"Guys, there's a lot of White Fang out there. What the fuck is Roland doing with them?" Yang said in confusion as she looked at the small army outside of the building.

"Students of Beacon Academy! You have five minutes to comply with our demands! If you fail to respond to our demands in five minutes then we will attack your location. Do not let one man be the cause of more harm to your friends! Exit the building or we will be forced to kill every single one of you." Adam said over the loud speaker, the White Fang around him readying their weapons.

"What do we do? We can't just hand Ozpin over to those goons." Yang said as she turned to her friends.

"Those poor excuses for faunus want a fight. I say we kick their asses." Amber said as she looked outside.

"Amber is right. This is our home, our school. They attacked us for no reason. I say we show them what Beacon students are made of." Gwen said with rage filling his voice as he looked towards Roland.

Ruby looked on as she thought about their options. It was clear that the White Fang forces outside the building were ready for battle. But it didn't seem like many students were ready to just hand over their beloved leader, Ozpin. She smiled slyly as she took out her scroll.

"Everyone! Those of you willing to fight exit the building and set your weapon lockers to a minute launch time. Those of you too weak or hurt to fight stay here and see what you can do for the more seriously injured students. They want to fight? Let's fight." She said with an encouraging smile before climbing out of the window and into the courtyard.

As the students talked briefly amongst themselves about who would stay and who would fight, Coco turned to Velvet and Yatsuhashi to issue an order.

"Velvet, you stay here and see if you can help anyone. Yatsuhashi, you protect Velvet. Understood?" Coco said quickly as she started to climb out of the window. Velvet and Yatsuhashi both gave Coco confident nods and rushed off to help the wounded.

Several students followed Ruby after setting the timer on their lockers. Those willing to fight stood ready to make a dash to their weapon lockers once they landed. Adam looked on as he bought the ruse, an evil smile on his face.

"See, Roland? Turns out your friends aren't as stupid as I thought they were. Wait…what the fuck?" Adam said as the sound of weapon lockers launching from their tubes filled the air.

One by one, weapons lockers landed all over the ground between the White Fang and the Beacon students. The students dashed towards their weapons, catching the White Fang off guard.

 **Roland**

"Son of a bitch. Well, it looks like we have our answer. White Fang, prepare to teach these children a lesson." Adam yelled out as he drew his sword. "Roland, kill the captives." He said as he turned to the stunned Roland, tossing him a jar of dust.

"Kill them?" Roland replied with a shaky voice as he started to realize that he would have to fight against the people who he had called his friends and classmates.

"Yes, kill them. This is a battle, boy. You either spill blood or you will be killed. There's no way in hell those students are just going to let you walk away now that they know you helped kill their friends. You kill these four prisoners and it will knock their morale down a few notches. Now do it!" Adam barked harshly.

Roland looked down at the four students that knelt in front of him. He hesitated for a few moments as the White Fang, along with Adam, rushed forward to engage the students. He looked on as the two sides began to fight. Students and faunus alike cut each other down left and right. Even though the students were severely outnumbered and had many wounded, they fought hard against those that wished to do them harm.

While Roland watched the battle Ruby swept her scythe widely, killing four White Fang members instantly. Their blood sprayed outward onto the ground. Every White Fang she engaged tried their best to match her speed and skill, some of them even tried to shoot her while she was distracted with one of their comrades. Each time she would just quickly step to the left or right and allow the faunus to shoot the one she was previously engaged with. She spun her weapon into its sniper rifle mode and let off several shots at White Fang that were trying to sneak up behind Yang. As she turned to engage another enemy she noticed that Roland was standing next to Team CRDL still. She thought to herself how strange it was that he was just standing there instead of fighting. As she briefly looked on she also noticed that Nina was approaching him from the side.

"Roland? What are you doing?" Nina said, in fear of the battle going on across the courtyard.

Roland spun around and faced his little sister. He dropped the bottle of dust and fell to his knees in front of her.

"Nina! Listen, we have to leave right now. I didn't want any of this to happen. These people promised me, promised us a better life. The people I'm helping are more powerful than anyone here. They can protect us and ensure that we live good lives." He said softly as he held his little sister. After a few moments she pushed away from him and shook her head.

"At what cost? These people here saved us. They have taken care of us! These are your friends that are risking their lives to protect our home! Why are you helping these people kill your friends?" She said, disappointed in her brother.

"I'm doing what I have to, Nina! You said yourself that nothing is what it seems here. I found out that Ozpin knew that our village was going to be attacked. He let our family and friends die! Please, I'm your brother. Run away with me from this place." Roland replied sadly, tears starting to fill his eyes.

"No. You are not my brother anymore. My brother wouldn't betray people that were kind enough to risk their lives for us. My brother wouldn't side with scum like this!" Nina said as she started to back away from Roland. Frustration and fear filled her voice as she shook her head to try to avoid crying.

"What are you saying? I'm still Roland. I'm still your brother. I've always been there for you." Roland replied, standing up as Nina backed away from him.

"NO!" She screamed. "Since we got here you've been more concerned with yourself! All you've done is look out for yourself! You're not Roland! You're a monster! I hate you! Never speak to me again. You are nothing to me anymore. I almost wish someone would kill you right here and right now!" Nina screamed louder with each word. Tears were freely flowing down her cheeks now as she kept backing up. She stumbled and fell on her buttocks before whipping the tears with the back of her hand.

Roland's heart sank as he listened to his sister's words. After a few moments he clinched his metal fist and started to shake uncontrollably. Her words and the words of Cinder and Ironwood filled his head. Everything that had happened to him over the past few months started to build inside him little by little before overflowing within him. He felt an intense rage build inside him as he looked down at the grass beneath his feet. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't control the growth of this intense anger he felt. After a few more moments of silence a smile started to form on his face as he looked up at his sister.

"I see. So you side with them? I have orders to kill anyone who gets between me and my mission, Nina. You wish I would die? Well…how about my first kill be you? Would you like that, you ungrateful little bitch?" Roland said slowly, his entire persona changing in moments.

Roland quickly typed in a command on his scroll and waited a few seconds as his weapon locker landed with a thud next to him. He tore the door off with his metal arm and slowly drew his blade, the smile on his face turning into an evil grin.

"How about I cut your fuckin' head off, you little brat? Don't you think it's fitting that the first person I kill in this battle be my own little sister?" He said as he took a step towards Nina who looked up at him in horror.

Roland raised his sword high above his head as he reached Nina. Rage burned in his eyes as he looked down at her. He brought the sword down as hard as he could but it only hit a rose petal covered patch of ground. He looked at where his sister had been sitting for a moment with a confused look on his face before looking around him. He spun around to find Ruby standing there with Nina in her arms. She stayed still for a second as he swung his sword at her before she dashed quickly away from him back towards the assembly hall. Roland roared out in fury and frustration as he saw that Ruby had used her semblance to escape him.

Roland then walked over to where he had dropped the bottle of dust and crushed it in his hand, making it shift into a flamethrower. Roland turned towards where Team CRDL were still standing and without hesitation he lit them on fire. He watched as the four young men burned to death, their screams rising up in the night air. He gave a small laugh as he watched Cardin roll around with his flesh starting to fall from his body before finally stopping, his life leaving his burned body. After watching the four boys die he turned his attention back towards where Ruby was now standing with Nina across the courtyard. She was kneeling in front of her with Nina standing behind a pillar with Nora running towards her. Roland grabbed ahold of a nearby White Fang member who had a sniper rifle with her.

"Shoot that student in the red hood! I want to see her head explode right now." He growled at the young woman who nodded, kneeling down to aim at Ruby.

"Nina! Are you okay? What's wrong with Roland?" Ruby yelled over the battle at Nina who was still visually shaken by Roland's actions.

"I don't know. That's not my brother. Roland would never do this." Nina replied sadly, tears still coming down her face.

"We have to get you to safety right now. Nora? Can you take..." Ruby started as she turned to look at Nora.

Ruby never got the chance to finish her sentence however because as she turned to talk to Nora the sniper across the courtyard fired her rifle. The bullet slammed into the pillar next to Ruby's face and shattered, sending shrapnel and debris into the right side of Ruby's face. Ruby let out a painful scream as her head snapped back, causing her to fall onto her back. She rolled around in pain as she rubbed and grabbed at her eye. Nora quickly changed her hammer into its grenade launcher mode and fired two rounds at Roland and the sniper. Roland gracefully rolled clear of the rounds as they landed next to the sniper, blowing her body apart in a cloud of debris and gore. Nora then dropped to her knees next to Ruby and Nina to try and see how badly Ruby was hurt.

"Ruby? Where are you hit? You got to stop moving I can't see where it hit you." Nora frantically said to her friend who was still thrashing about in pain.

"My eye! Oh my god my eye!" Ruby screamed in pain as blood poured down the side of her face.

After a few moments of struggling with Ruby, Nora managed to get her hands moved away from her face. She almost gagged at the sight of the damage done to Ruby's right eye. Shrapnel was logged into her upper right cheek and had cut her eye open badly. Nora tried her best to reassure Ruby that she was going to be okay as she tore a piece of her shirt to wrap around Ruby's head. Nora looked up to see if anyone was around to help her get Ruby inside but to a horror she only saw Roland charging across the courtyard with his sword in hand. A few students tried their best to engage him but were quickly cut down by him without much effort. Nora quickly stood with her Magnhild in its hammer mode in order to engage her teammate. However before Roland got close enough for her to swing her hammer at him, Gwen slammed into his side and tackled him through a blown out window in the assembly hall. Nora stood still, stunned that Gwen tackled Roland out of the way at the last moment. As she managed to snap out of her daze, Yang slid to her side to help her get Ruby and Nina to safety.

 **Gwen**

Back inside the assembly hall Gwen and Roland tumbled into the building before Gwen skidded to a halt, allowing Roland to roll into some debris. Several students that were in good enough shape to stand hurried to get as far away from where he landed as possible. Two of those students were Velvet and Rose who tenderly moved Weiss to a safer location. Weiss whimpered softly as the two girls gently placed her behind a piece of fallen ceiling before poking their heads out to watch the duel that was about to begin. Gwen readied his massive claymore with two hands, expecting Roland to explode from the debris any moment. Roland slowly rose from the debris pile with chunks of dirt and shrapnel falling from his body. He gave Gwen a small grin as he readied his own blade.

"Well look who it is. I've been wondering when you'd show up, big guy. Tell me, are you as fast as that bitch Amber?" Roland said with a growl as he looked at his enemy.

"Luckily for you she is the second fastest fighter on our team behind Yamabuki. Me on the other hand? I'm all strength. Maybe you'll have your work cut out for you if you can get past ole Caliburn here." Gwen replied confidently as he waved his large sword back and forth.

As the two young men prepared themselves for their battle a third student slowly approached them. Gwen and Roland both turned to the emerging shadow as the giant frame of Yatsuhashi came to the side of Gwen before drawing his own huge sword. Gwen nodded at his new comrade with a smile before turning his attention back to Roland.

"You know you can still give up, right? We don't have to fight, Roland. I'm sure if you help us push the White Fang back then perhaps your punishment for all this can be reduced somehow." Gwen said with a hopeful smirk.

"You just don't get it do you?" Roland said with a frown. "I'm here for Ozpin. All you morons had to do was surrender him to us and none of this would have happened." He continued.

"I don't think _you_ understand, Roland." Gwen replied sternly. "This is our home. We aren't going to let a bunch of thugs and a traitor just waltz in here and do what they want without a fight." He said with a nodded approval of Yatsuhashi.

"Spare me the bullshit, Gwen. You're boring me now. Now a two on one fight? That seems fun." Roland said with a twisted grin.

Gwen shook his head sadly as he came to the conclusion that Roland's sanity had all but vanished. The young man he knew briefly would have never acted with such evil intentions. He knew that the only thing left for them to do was to fight.

"If that's how you want it. Then fine. Shall we?" Gwen said as he glanced over at Yatsuhashi who smiled slightly before both of them dashed forward.

Roland struggled at first to block the two large boys' attacks as they were both much larger and stronger than him. He realized early into the fight that he would have to use his speed and cunning to survive the fight with Yatsuhashi and Gwen. The two boys took turns delivering heavy blows against Roland who quickly countered them or simply dodged the slower moving massive blades of his two enemies. A few times he changed the order of the battle by going on the attack. He would dodge Gwen's swipe and dance towards Yatsuhashi, delivering two or three quick jabs or swipes before rolling back towards Gwen and doing the same to him. This kept them further apart from each other which gave him more time to counter and attack them one on one instead of them crowding him.

During one of Roland's quick attacks against Yatsuhashi he slipped on some loose debris and lost his footing. As he stumbled to the side Yatsuhashi kicked him hard in the chest, sending him crashing against the fallen piece of ceiling that Rose and Velvet were hiding behind. Gwen quickly took this chance and jumped in before swinging his claymore down towards Roland's shoulder. Roland quickly put his metal hand upward to catch the blade but the force of the swing was so large that he could only slow the strike. This gave him enough time to slide downward, forcing the blade to get lodged into the piece of stone he was resting against. Roland grinned slyly before kicking Gwen in the groin and then slamming his metal fist upward into his gut. Gwen doubled over from the strikes, falling onto his knees beside Roland.

Roland stood slowly beside Gwen and raised his blade to deliver a killing blow but before he could bring his sword down on his enemy, Yatsuhashi grabbed him by the back of his shirt and threw him several feet away from Gwen. Roland quickly leapt to his feet just in time to block a heavy blow from Yatsuhashi. The two boys grunted as they tried to hold their blades steady. Roland, realizing he was still outmatched as far as strength went, gave out a small laugh.

Gwen moaned, still in pain from the hits he received from Roland. "His sword! Be careful of it." He continued, falling over from the pain in his groin and abdomen.

However it was already too late. Roland pulled the small trigger on the hilt of his blade which sent a strong electrical charge through the blade and into Yatsuhashi's. This intense shock made Yatsuhashi jump backwards before readying his blade again. Roland took a lung forward and sliced diagonally towards his enemy. Yatsuhashi went to block the strike but right when Roland's blade was within a few inches of Yatsuhashi's he clicked the trigger as hard as he could and swept the blade down hard. This caused a large arc of electricity to slice through the air, passing right through Yatsuhashi's sword and his body which just stopped moving abruptly with a small splash of blood hitting the ground behind him.

"Yatsuhashi?" Velvet whispered as she watched her teammate not respond to the strike or Roland. She then looked on in horror as she saw why he wasn't responding.

Yatsuhashi's blade slowly broke into two pieces, the upper part falling to the ground. The upper right half of his body slowly started to slide from his lower half before slipping to the ground. Blood sprayed from his body where it was cut in two. His lower left half and his torso fell forward and splashed into a puddle of his organs and blood. Velvet looked on in shock as the image of her teammate's corpse burned into her mind. Roland stood over the corpse of Yatsuhashi silently, satisfied that one of his enemies in the duel laid dead. He slowly walked over Yatsuhashi's remains and towards Rose, Weiss, and Velvet.

"Now for you two. After I'm done with you Rose, I'm going to track down your girlfriend and deliver your head to her personally. I want to see the look of horror on her face before I remove her own head from her body." He said calmly as he readied himself to strike at the girls.

However before he had a chance to do so, a human sized ball of fire screamed towards him and leapt through the air before landing beside him. As he turned to engage with this new foe, he was met with a crashing blow from the fireball which landed squarely in his chest. This hit was so forceful that it kicked up dust in all directions and let out a crashing sound that was as loud as thunder. It instantly shattered four of Roland's ribs and left massive burns on his chest. Roland flew backwards from the hit before crashing through a broken section of wall and outward into the courtyard where he slammed into a tree before crashing to the ground, his body going limp.

 **Yang**

"What the hell was that?" Rose said as she looked on in shock, dust still in the air from the shockwave the hit produced.

Weiss let out a pained laugh in response before coughing from the amount of dust the hit kicked up. All she had to do was hear the strike and feel the heat from it before she knew who it was.

"Well if there is one thing I've learned from being on Team RWBY it's this, Rose." Weiss said softly as she winced from the pain in her back. "There are many stupid things you can do in this life. But none of them are nearly as foolish as pissing off The Golden Dragon herself. _That_ is a very, very angry Yang. I honestly have never felt this much heat come off of her before so she must be really upset." She continued.

Rose looked from Weiss to where the dust was starting to clear to see the figure of Yang slowly walking towards her. Yang's eyes were pure glowing they were so red and steam was actually rising from her body. Her hair flowed in the hot air around her as if it was caught in a gentle breeze. Every step she took left behind a burn mark in the dirt. As she approached the girls she stopped and looked down at Gwen who was just now coming to his senses. She shook her head before giving him a small but worried smile.

"Hey big guy, you okay? That Roland guy sure is a ball buster, huh?" She said as she helped Gwen to his feet.

"Normally I'd at least snicker at such a bad pun. But sadly I think I'd hurt myself if I did. Yatsuhashi?" Gwen said silently to Yang as he looked towards the young man's body.

Yang shook her head sadly as she helped Gwen step over the debris that Rose, Velvet, and Weiss were behind. She eased him down against the rubble before hugging Velvet tightly.

"I'm so sorry Velvet. I wish I had arrived sooner. Maybe I could have helped." Yang said softly as she felt the young faunus' tears slowly drip onto her shoulder as she silently cried. Yang turned her attention to Rose briefly and nodded her head to Weiss. "How's my snow angel doing?" She asked worriedly.

"I found where her spine is broken. It's in her lower back. She is paralyzed from the waist down and is still in a lot of pain. However there will be no disfigurement in her legs since I managed to heal them somewhat well. She's a lot calmer now than she was a little bit ago. I had to have Velvet hold her down a few times because she refused to listen to my diagnosis." Rose said as she placed a caring hand on Weiss' before turning her attention to Gwen's wounds.

"Just great. Things are going decently well outside at least. Nora is bringing Ruby and Roland's sister in. Could you see what you can do for Ruby? She's in bad shape." Yang asked with a shaky voice. Rose nodded confidently as she looked Gwen over.

"Ruby? What's wrong with Ruby?" Weiss said, struggling to move before Yang stopped her.

"A sniper tried taking her out. The bullet hit a pillar near her and shrapnel landed in her eye. It's pretty bad, Weiss. Nora doesn't think there can be anything done to save it." Yang said with a tender frown. The thought of her friend and her little sister in such bad shape made her heart sink. She quickly perked up however in order to keep moral raised amongst the students with her. "But hey, good news is that we're winning right?" She said with a fake smile.

"Do you think you killed Roland?" Gwen said as he leaned his head against the rubble he was leaning on.

"Honestly I'd be surprised if I didn't. He's tough but a hit that hard would shatter bones and damage organs. He'd be lucky if it didn't rupture his heart." Yang said as she glanced towards the hole she sent Roland through.

"Well here's hoping that Blake is doing okay out there." Weiss said as she whimpered from the pain in her back.

"I'm sure she's fine. But hey, where's Ozpin?" Yang asked as she looked around the room.

"Nobody can find him or Goodwitch. There's no bodies or anything." Velvet replied as she whipped away tears from her eyes.

 **Blake**

Meanwhile, outside in the courtyard the battle raged on as rain began to fall heavily. The Beacon students had drastically turned the tide of the battle and had the White Fang on the ropes. Blake shot several rounds into a charging White Fang member before seeing that Adam was within ten yards of her. She felt a fiery rage build inside her at the site of her once mentor. He cut down a student before noticing her. He smiled as he started to walk towards her.

"Well look who it is. Hello old friend." He said as he got closer to her.

"Don't call me your friend. We both know that part of my life is long gone." Blake replied as she got ready to engage him.

Adam tilted his head to the side as Blake readied her weapon. "Oh? So I guess this means I get to see how much you've improved your fighting skills? Well in that case, show me what you got." He said as he lifted his own sword before lunging at Blake.

Blake quickly used her semblance to cast a shadow towards Adam to take the blow from his strike before spinning to his side and swinging Gambol's sheath as a cleaver at Adam's head. He easily blocked the blow before unleashing a series of strikes that forced Blake to step backwards. She responded with twin cuts from her sword and cleaver before leaping to the side and flinging Gambol in its chain mode towards Adam's legs. The chain wrapped around his right foot and Blake yanked it out from under him. She charged forward to deliver a blow with her cleaver but Adam stopped her by kicking her in the stomach.

"You've gotten quicker. But you still let your emotions dictate the fight." Adam said as he leapt to his feet and rained down several blows which Blake struggled to block.

"Shut up! This isn't some sparring match!" Blake responded with anger as she cast a shadow to take one of Adam's hits.

Blake slid to the side of Adam and slashed his left thigh with her sword before getting to her feet and cutting his shoulder with the edge of her Gambol's sheath. Adam roared out in pain before elbowing Blake in the face, breaking her nose. Blood sprayed from her nose as she stepped backwards with tears forming in her eyes. Adam then sliced diagonally across her body, leaving a shallow but painful gash across her torso. He then kicked her to the ground before towering over her to deliver the killing blow. As he raised his sword to strike he hesitated at the sound of VTOL engines. He grinned down at his old friend and laughed.

"You hear that, Blake? That's the sound of the cavalry coming. You and your comrades are finished." Adam said as he lowered his sword and walked away from Blake towards a Bullhead VTOL that had arrived at the cliff. As the VTOL hovered above him several other ones arrived and hovered in place surrounding the battle below.

Suddenly the battle all but stopped as students and White Fang alike turned towards the assembly hall at the sight of two figures exiting it. There stood a wounded Ozpin being held upright by Goodwitch who helped him walk into the courtyard. The combatants parted to allow them to walk through towards Adam and the VTOL. Many students protested but were silenced by Ozpin who just held up a shaky hand.

"Please…no more. Stop all this pointless killing. I surrender under the condition that my students will not be harmed further." Ozpin said sadly as he and Goodwitch arrived next to Adam.

"Adam looked at the man before him for a few moments before nodding respectfully. He then waved the VTOL to land. As the VTOL landed a squad of Atlesian Knights exited the aircraft and pulled both Ozpin and Goodwitch towards the entrance of it.

"Ozpin! Don't do this! We won't let them take you." Blake pleaded from the ground.

"Blake, sometimes it's best to know when a fight is unwinnable. Please, just get as many students as you can off campus." Goodwitch replied as she helped Ozpin onto the aircraft entering it behind him.

Adam grinned with pride as he looked towards Blake. He went to enter the aircraft also but was stopped by a knight.

"No. You're staying. Ironwood has no more need for you or the White Fang." The knight said in a robotic voice.

"Staying? The hell are you talking about? My orders are to…" Adam started but was cut off by the sound of a gunshot.

Adam looked down at his stomach at the sight of a gunshot wound. At that moment the VTOL's in the air and the squad of knights opened fire on both students and White Fang alike. Most of the combatants were caught off guard and thus were instantly killed. Several others ran for cover. White Fang and Beacon student alike dove behind cover with each other and put aside the fact that they were just fighting in order to engage with their new shared enemy. Adam collapsed to his knees as he realized he had been betrayed. Blood poured from his gunshot wound in this stomach as he slipped into brief shock.

"No!" Ozpin screamed as he tried to leave the VTOL before its doors shut and the aircraft quickly took off.

Blake looked on helplessly as the VTOLs and squad of robotic troops fired on anything that moved around her. She backed away painfully as one of the knights aimed its rifle at her. She closed her eyes as she expected to be killed. As the rifle shot she felt a splash of warmth hit her face. She opened her eyes to see that Adam had shielded her from the gunshots and that his blood was dripping onto her face. She quickly shot the knight before catching the collapsing faunus in her arms. She rolled so she could try and drag him to safety as she saw that Jaune and a few students along with White Fang members had rushed to her side to help.

"I got you Blake. We need to get inside the assembly hall now." Jaune said as he helped her pick Adam up. The small group moved as quickly as they could into the destroyed building.

As Blake entered the building she was met by Yang who embraced her tightly before kissing her. The young woman helped her and Jaune place Adam next to Gwen and Weiss before she ran off to help others still coming in. Adam coughed blood up as he groaned in pain.

"B-Blake." Adam wheezed from the wounds in his back. "I'm…sorry. I was so stupid. I should have known this would happen. That fucker…Ironwood. He betrayed us. We were just his patsies." The faunus said as blood leaked out of the corner of his mouth.

"Adam please save your energy. We all need to get out of here." Blake said softly as Rose quickly looked Adam over. Rose shook her head sadly before looking over Blake's wounds.

"I'm not going anywhere. But you and the students can still escape. I had my forces stash a few VTOLs out behind the school. Get to them and get out of here. Ironwood is crazy, he has so many twisted plans for Remnant. You have to stop him." Adam said before coughing more blood up. "Look kid, I know I fucked up a lot. I guess this is kind of fitting for me, huh?" He continued as he removed his mask and gave Blake a weak smile.

"I wish it didn't have to be like this. You were my best friend." Blake replied with a cracking voice. Yang quickly appeared at Blake's side to help Rose patch her up.

"I know. Maybe if there is a next life then we can do it over. I should have listened to you. You're a smart girl. And I see you have someone that keeps your head in the right place. Hey, blondie." Adam struggled to say. "Take care of her, okay? Do a better job being there for her than I did. I know it doesn't mean much now but she was always like a sister to me." He said to Yang who nodded and put her hand on his shoulder.

A few moments later Adam coughed a few more times before wheezing deeply. Blood had filled his lungs to the point to where he could barely breathe. Tears filled his eyes and he silently leaned his head back and with a weak smile died. Tears rolled down Blake's cheeks as she closed Adam's eyes and softly kissed his forehead before holding his body against hers. Her ears laid down as she screamed out in frustration at Adam's passing. Yang managed to pull Blake away as a White Fang member approached them.

"If it means anything, many of us have decided to stay behind and make sure you all escape. What we did was wrong and we want to make sure we take as many of those assholes with us as we can. We won't let Adam's death be in vain." The faunus said as he removed his mask and picked up Adam's sword before handing it to Blake. "I'm sure he would have wanted you to have this. Now please, get out of here." He said before walking to a group of his comrades who were readying themselves near a window.

Jaune came up to Yang and Blake with a small group of students who were able to still move despite their injuries. Many other students were helping each other move the more severely wounded ones towards the back of the hall.

"I think I know where those VTOLs are. If we're going to get out of here we need to do it now." Jaune said as he helped Pyrrha to her feet.

"Where's Roland?" Nina asked as she looked around.

"Dead, probably. I did hit him pretty hard." Yang answered as she helped Ruby stand. Nina lowered her head sadly before nodding and helped Yang steady Ruby.

As the students got ready to make a run for the back of the campus, Coco and the remaining members of Team CFVY approached Jaune and Yang.

"I'm sorry but we aren't going. There's no way that those White Fang will last long against those knights and VTOLs. We're staying to ensure you get out of here." Coco said sadly.

Yang hesitated before nodding, realizing that there was no talking the team out of their decision. Team CFVY joined the White Fang forces at the front of the hall before they opened fire at the knights and VTOL outside. The students took the gunfire as their sign to leave and hurried out the back and across campus to the VTOLs that Adam had hidden.

As the last few students made it to the aircrafts they heard explosions as the VTOLs across campus launched missiles into the remains of the assembly hall. The building started to collapse in a pile of debris and fire. The VTOLs containing the students quickly lifted off and headed for the forest where they would try and hide, leaving behind the home they had all tried to defend.

While the students were escaping in the VTOLs, a knight found Roland's still motionless body. It quickly looked him over before calling in its report.

"Sir, we've found Roland Egle. He's alive. We're bringing him to you now." It said before picking Roland up in its arms and walking to a Bullhead.

 **Three Days Later**

As the survivors of Beacon pushed through the woods they found a large cave near a waterfall. They hurried inside and helped those that were too weak from the battle get comfortable. Many of the students that had escaped had died from their wounds during the trek deep into the forest. The students were forced to abandon the VTOLs a short time after escaping the campus out of fear that Atlas could track them. Emotions were starting to build and many students had started to argue amongst themselves. Gwen leaned against the wall of the cave and looked at his scroll which just had enough battery life to check on and updates in the news.

A day after the battle, a news alert had went out that Atlas had invaded Vale and was beginning a purge of all huntsmen and huntresses. The reports had stated that the purge had started in Atlas and found footing in Vale. It seemed that anyone who was a friend to huntsmen were being targeted with violence. The Vale military had done its best to hold off Atlas but quickly surrendered. Vale was now under Atlas' total control. Other reports claimed that the huntsmen and White Fang were working together from the start and that Atlas had labeled all huntsmen and huntresses as terrorists that were to be hunted to the ends of Remnant.

A new report came through that Atlas forces were moving many citizens of Vale into makeshift slums in order to quell anyone that would think of rising up against them. The report went on to describe that many Vale citizens were being stripped of their rights and arrested as well.

Gwen looked up from his scroll as he heard Blake and Amber arguing. He quickly went to them to see if he could help calm them down.

"How can we be sure we can trust you? You were part of the White Fang, right? And weren't you and Yang fucking Roland? How can we be sure that you two didn't help him?" Amber accused Blake.

"Yes, I was part of the White Fang once. But I in no way had any knowledge of their plans for Beacon. And what my girlfriend and I do is none of your damn business! It was a lapse of judgement and we didn't know he would do this!" Blake defended herself.

"Yeah well you sure do seem to have horrible judgement if you slept with _that_ monster and were White Fang. If you ask me, you should have been left behind with that loser who led the battle!" Amber yelled as she stepped towards Blake. Yang quickly stepped in between the two as her eyes glowed red.

"You better watch your mouth." Yang growled, looking down at Amber.

"Oh? And what are you going to do about it slut?" Amber said without backing down.

Yang clinched her fist before throwing a punch at the young faunus. Gwen quickly grabbed Yang's wrist and stepped between her and Amber. He glared down at Amber who quickly laid her ears down and tucked her tail between her legs. He then turned his attention back to Yang and Blake.

"She didn't mean that. Amber is very…emotional. She speaks her mind and is just trying to let some stress out. I apologize for her actions." He said before gently letting go of Yang's wrist. "Fighting will get us nowhere. We have all lost friends over the past couple days but we need to keep level heads if we want to survive any longer." He continued, looking over his shoulder at Amber who respectfully nodded.

"He's right." Jaune said, leaving Pyrrha's side for the first time in days. "We need to come together if we want to get through this. We need a plan. Anyone got any ideas?" He asked as he looked around the cave.

Many of the students just looked on silently as they waited for someone to speak up. Others just shook their heads or went about their business. After several moments of silence one voice spoke up.

"We fight." Came the small voice of Nina, who stepped forward next to Jaune. "We can't allow Ironwood to get away with what he did to us, to your friends, or to my brother. We have to make him pay." She stated with clinched fists.

"I'm sorry, but how do you purpose we do that?" Asked Weiss from across the cave where she laid with a silent Ruby.

"Weiss is right. How do we fight a war with a handful of badly hurt and weak students? If you haven't noticed but we are in no condition to do anything right now. Pyrrha is deaf, Weiss is paralyzed, Ruby is blind in one eye, and that's just the beginning of the list of injuries we have. We'd never survive a day in an actual war with an army like Ironwood's." Yang said sadly.

"We don't fight an actual war." Yamabuki said after a few moments of silence. "We lead a resistance force that fights from the shadows. We conduct hit and run tactics. We do smear campaigns of anyone that backs Atlas. We fight dirty. And most importantly, we get the people to want to fight for their homes." She said with a small smile.

With that, several students agreed and showed signs of life and a will to fight. Many of them started talking about plans of how to start their resistance movement as others talked about safe havens for those that wanted to join.

After several minutes of talking amongst themselves the group of students decided that they should have five leaders. They put it to a vote and announced that Yang, Jaune, Blake, Gwen, and Weiss would head the movement. Yang would use her connections in the city to gather support, Blake and Gwen would rally faunus to support them, Weiss would use any connections in Atlas to get information on troop movements or supply shipments, and Jaune would be the leader of the resistance as a whole due to his leadership skills.

And with that vote the Vale Liberation Army was born.

 **END**


End file.
